Oncolytic Viruses Encoding Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors:a New Approach to Immunotherapy Combinatorial Treatment
LI Jiaze
SUN Tao
SHEN Jian
Abstract：In recent years,following surgery,radiotherapy,chemotherapy,and targeted therapy,the rise of immunotherapy has brought revolutionary changes to the field of cancer treatment.Oncolytic viruses are a class of viruses that can selectively infect cancer cells.They can kill cancer cells through direct lysis and also alter the tumor microenvironment(TME)by enhancing tumor antigen presentation,activating the body's innate and specific immunity.They are one of the emerging immunotherapies in recent years.Among the various cancer immunotherapy methods,immune checkpoint inhibitors,with their outstanding ability to suppress tumor immune evasion,are considered one of the most promising cancer immunothera-py approaches in terms of clinical survival benefits.However,the low immunogenicity shaped by the tumor microenvironment is believed to be a key factor hindering the development of immunotherapy.Cor-respondingly,oncolytic viruses can transform"cold tumors"into"hot tumors"by killing cancer cells,presenting antigens,recruiting and activating specific and innate immune cells.This significantly increases the infiltration of cytotoxic T cells,which promotes the effectiveness of immune checkpoint inhibitors(ICI).In today's highly advanced gene editing technology,through genetic modification,oncolytic viruses designed to carry genes encoding immune checkpoint inhibitor molecules can specifically express immune checkpoint inhibitors within tumors.This paves the way for a new approach to combined treatment with oncolytic viruses and immune checkpoint inhibitors.This new strategy not only leverages the complemen-tary advantages of both in terms of the mechanisms of immunotherapy but also enhances the specific ex-pression of immune checkpoint inhibitors and avoids their adverse effects,opening up a new avenue for im-munotherapy based on oncolytic virus gene engineering.Currently,this strategy shows promising benefits in terms of overall survival improvement,tumor growth suppression,reinvigoration of memory T cells a-gainst tumors,and enhancement of infiltration of T cells(CD4+,CD8+,and CD3+T cells).It also offers the potential to establish more durable specific immunity,flexible expression of immune checkpoint inhibi-tors,and lower medical costs.It has broad prospects for development and application.However,the re-search has not yet entered the clinical stage,and there are still deficiencies in safety,effectiveness,etc.Therefore,it is one of the hot medical strategies worth further exploration,research,and application.
Keywords：oncolytic virusgene engineeringimmune checkpoint inhibitionimmunotherapy combination therapy
Publication Date：2024-10-28
Online Publishing Date：2026-08-28(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：12( 132-143 )