One of the more innovative weapons in our anticancer armamentarium are oncolytic viruses. Their rationale as an anticancer therapy is that once a cancer cell is infected, the virus replicates until the cancer cell eventually dies by lysis. As cell lysis is also an immunogenic process, the immune system is potentially stimulated to target cancer cells, too.

Recent developments in research into viruses’ capability to destroy cancer cells have shown that oncolytic virotherapy has the potential to become a sustainable alternative to existing therapies. Using a self-amplifying antitumor agent that selectively replicates in cancer cells and avoids destroying healthy tissue offers obvious therapeutic advantages. The progress in the field of molecular biology allowed for both a deeper understanding of the biology of viruses and their subsequent engineering.