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Viruses killing cancer cells: stimulating an immune response within the cancer microenvironment

Research

Using funding from CRUK and Psioxus Therapeutics, a team of researchers from the University of Oxford led by Professor Len Seymour, have recently published a paper in Molecular Therapy Oncolytics.

Image courtesy of Juan Gaertner - Shutterstock

Researchers from the Department of Oncology have been working on creating a therapeutic virus that can be given to cancer patients intravenously. This anti-cancer virus, known as Enadenotucirev, is able to infect and kill cancer cells, while leaving normal cells unharmed. This approach exploits the natural life cycle of the virus, which lyses infected cells in order to release progeny virus particles, allowing the infection to spread from cell to cell through the tumour. 

Read more (Department of Oncology website)

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