Oncolytic Virus Engineering for Tumor Immunotherapy
A special issue of Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915). This special issue belongs to the section "Viral Immunology, Vaccines, and Antivirals".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2026 | Viewed by 859
Special Issue Editor
Interests: molecular biology of adeno-associated viruses (AAVs) and their use as gene therapy vectors; virus–host interactions of parvoviruses; oncolytic viruses (OV)
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
Oncolytic viruses (OVs) have been known for more than a century, and in recent years substantial applications in cancer treatment have been achieved through sophisticated genetic engineering strategies accompanied by a deeper understanding of their interaction with cancer cells. The genetically modified herpes simplex virus T-VEC underwent clinical application for the treatment of melanoma in 2015, and many other OVs are currently tested in advanced clinical studies. The genetic engineering of OVs can enhance tumor immunity through a variety of mechanisms. An improved virolysis of cancer cells leads to release of tumor antigens and danger signals, which subsequently trigger both innate and adaptive immune responses. Inserted genes can either enhance the presentation of tumor antigens to T cells or express immune-modulatory molecules, which make the tumor microenvironment (TME) more permissive to an anti-tumor immune response. OVs can also be combined with other immunotherapies such as immune checkpoint inhibitors to enhance their therapeutic potential.
The present Special Issue of Viruses invites contributions that address novel genetic engineering approaches to enhance OV-mediated tumor immunity by inhibiting immunosuppressive and/or enhancing immunostimulatory functions. OV tumor specificity, e.g., tumor-specific promoters or miRNA-mediated approaches, and novel techniques such as CRISPR-based genome editing, may be addressed.
Dr. Stefan Weger
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- oncolytic viruses (OV)
- cancer immunotherapy
- cancer treatment
- genetic engineering
- tumor-specificity
- tumor-specific promoters
- immunosuppressive
- tumor micro environment (TME)
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