Remissions in leukemia of childhood following acute infectious disease. Staphylococcus and streptococcus, varicella, and feline panleukopenias

History of Oncolytic Viruses: Genesis to Genetic Engineering

“…Perhaps for this reason, upon the discovery of X-rays by Roentgen in 1895 and radioactivity by Marie Curie in 1898 and their subsequent application in treating cancer, radiation therapy became all the rage. 5 Only three months after Roentgen published his report on X-rays, there was an account of X-rays in the treatment of breast cancer. 6 So fervent was the support for radiotherapy that it eclipsed surgery as the preferred method of treatment in many cancers, including head and neck.…”

“…1,2,5,21 Most often the patients in question were suffering from hematological malignancies such as leukemia or lymphoma, known to be associated with significant suppression of immune function. In addition, the remissions were short-lived, typically lasting only one or two months.…”

“…In another case, chickenpox led to the regression of lymphatic leukemia in a 4-year-old boy. 5 Before the onset of chickenpox he was not receiving anti-leukemic therapy, his liver and spleen were enormous, he had enlarged cervical lymph nodes, and his leukocyte count was grossly elevated (200 lymphoid cells/μl). Within a few days of his developing the classical varicella rash, his spleen and liver returned to nearnormal size, his white count fell to normal (4.1 cells/μl), the differential count normalized, his platelet count and hemoglobin increased significantly, and examination of his bone marrow confirmed that he was in remission.…”

“…Introduction of wild-type viruses in a traditionally naïve host where populations have not evolved any resistance to the virus would today be considered quite risky. Indeed, one virus that had been used in virotherapy, feline panleukopenia virus, 5 later evolved independently to be transmissible to dogs, resulting in the pandemic canine parvovirus that is believed to have infected more than 80% of wild and domestic dogs between 1978 and 1979 across the world. 74 For these and other reasons, few animal viruses are still pursued as oncolytic agents today.…”

Clinical development directions in oncolytic viral therapy

“…These reports described rare but dramatic responses in cancer patients recovering from viral syndromes. [15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29] On the basis of these observations, viruses with low pathogenicity to normal tissue and high oncolytic capacity have been selected for clinical investigation. [29][30][31][32][33][34][35] This review will focus on the anticancer activity of oncolytic viruses demonstrated in clinical investigation.…”