Recent advances of engineered oncolytic viruses-based combination therapy for liver cancer

Abstract

Liver cancer is a major malignant tumor, which seriously threatens human health and increases the economic burden on patients. At present, gene therapy has been comprehensively studied as an excellent therapeutic measure in liver cancer treatment. Oncolytic virus (OV) is a kind of virus that can specifically infect and kill tumor cells. After being modified by genetic engineering, the specificity of OV infection to tumor cells is increased, and its influence on normal cells is reduced. To date, OV has shown its effectiveness and safety in experimental and clinical studies on a variety of tumors. Thus, this review primarily introduces the current status of different genetically engineered OVs used in gene therapy for liver cancer, focuses on the application of OVs and different target genes for current liver cancer therapy, and identifies the problems encountered in OVs-based combination therapy and the corresponding solutions, which will provide new insights into the treatment of liver cancer.

Cancer cachexia reduces the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors in cancer patients

“…Immune evasion assumes an important role in the genesis and progression of cancer, constituting one of the foremost hallmarks of cancer [ 1 , 2 ]. In addition to modulating the immune system, immune checkpoints, which are made up of co-inhibitory and stimulatory signals, can shield cancer cells from immune destruction [ 1 , 3 ].…”