Quantitative imaging and dynamics of tumor therapy with viruses

Abstract

Cancer therapy remains challenging due to the myriad presentations of the disease and the vast genetic diversity of tumors that continuously evolve and often become resistant to therapy. Viruses can be engineered to specifically infect, replicate, and kill tumor cells (tumor virotherapy). Moreover, the viruses can be 'armed' with therapeutic genes to enhance their oncolytic effect. Using viruses to treat cancer is exciting and novel and in principle can be used for a broad variety of tumors. However, the approach is distinctly different from other cancer therapies since success depends on establishment of an infection within the tumor and ongoing propagation of the oncolytic virus within the tumor itself. Therefore, the target itself amplifies the therapy. This introduces complex dynamics especially when the immune system is taken into consideration as well as the physical and other biological barriers to virus growth. Understanding these dynamics not only requires mathematical and computational models but also approaches for the non-invasive monitoring of the virus and tumor populations. In this perspective, we discuss strategies and current results to achieve this important goal of understanding these dynamics in pursuit of optimization of oncolytic virotherapy.

The ever‐expanding landscape of cancer therapeutic approaches

“…Promising results have been obtained with an engineered measles virus for the treatment of a patient with metastatic multiple myeloma, and success against other types of tumours has been demonstrated in animal models. In their review, Iris Kemler and colleagues [23] present an overview of the use of oncolytic viruses for cancer therapy with a focus on the use of different imaging approaches to track the dynamics of virus infection of tumour cells.…”

Dacarbazine-Loaded Targeted Polymeric Nanoparticles for Enhancing Malignant Melanoma Therapy

“…It is considered to be the most promising method in cancer treatment. In recent years, new tumor-targeted strategies have emerged, such as tumor-targeted drug therapy ( Jin et al, 2021 ; Kerns et al, 2021 ; Li et al, 2021 ; Li et al, 2021 ), immunotherapy ( Chen et al, 2021 ; Lu et al, 2021 ; Pei et al, 2021 ), gene therapy ( Chada et al, 2015 ; Wang et al, 2021 ; Wang et al, 2021 ), virus therapy ( Kemler et al, 2021 ; Wan et al, 2021 ; Zhang et al, 2021 ), and cell-based targeted therapy ( Collet et al, 2016 ). Among them, tumor active targeted drug therapy based on nanoparticles (NPs) drug delivery systems achieved the most success.…”