The Virus That Kills Cancer; Oncolytic Virus {Farewell To cancer}

The fight against cancer has been an age-long battle. But science is finally about to win this battle, and ultimately extincting this thing called cancer. Sounds interesting.

New strains of viruses have been engineered in the fight against cancer. These viruses are called Oncolytic Viruses.

Before now, to the uninitiated, virus has been linked with evil. But I guess that mentality is about to go into the limbo. Viruses aren't totally evil after all.

Long before now, during the 20th century; in theory, there has been a connection between cancer inhibition and viruses. But then, advances in Virotherapy didn't enjoy much attention, partly because of the complex engineering techniques required in creating these viruses. Attention was shifted to Radiotherapy and chemotherapy. But thanks to 21st century emerging tech on genetic engineering, rays of light have shimmered on this field of Virotherapy.

Major Viruses equipped for this fight

There are quite some few viruses that have some oncolytic properties. I'll just list two:

• Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV): Herpes Virus is actually not a new name, but the one to be used for virotherapy is the genetically engineered Oncolytic Herpes Virus. This is actually one of the first Viruses that were modified for the fight against cancer.
• Oncorine (H101): This, no doubt, is the most popular oncolytic virus. No wonder why it has gained widespread approval. This has also shown to be very effective in the treatment of the cancers of the neck and head.

Dynamics Of Activities

The dynamics of activities of these oncolytic viruses includes:

• Direct Oncolysis: This entails the direct introduction of the virus in the targeted cancerous tumor. The virus will surround the cancer cells, this inhibits the growth, and ultimately lead to the cell mortality
• Oncolytic Viruses as Immunotherapy:  This one will serve mainly as a preventive strategy against cancer. It can also be employed for curative purposes too.

Clinical Trials

The table below shows the clinical trials of some genetically engineered virus strains, from the period of 2014-2017

Cancer is gradually being bidden farewell. A time could come when the world would be declared cancer-free. Sounds nearly impossible, but time shall tell.

Thanks for reading

Images Sources: Img1, Img2, Img3

Reference for further reading: Ref1, Ref2, Ref3

I wish Naija, my Nigeria a happy independence day as she turns 57 on 1st October.