Lighting a Fire in the Tumor Microenvironment Using Oncolytic Immunotherapy
Carole Achard,
Abera Surendran,
Marie-Eve Wedge,
Guy Ungerechts,
John Bell,
Carolina S. Ilkow
Affiliations
Carole Achard
Centre for Innovative Cancer Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa K1H 8L6, Canada
Abera Surendran
Centre for Innovative Cancer Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa K1H 8L6, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa K1H 8M5, Canada
Marie-Eve Wedge
Centre for Innovative Cancer Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa K1H 8L6, Canada; Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa K1H 8M5, Canada
Guy Ungerechts
Centre for Innovative Cancer Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa K1H 8L6, Canada; Department of Medical Oncology and Translational Oncology, National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
John Bell
Centre for Innovative Cancer Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa K1H 8L6, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa K1H 8M5, Canada
Carolina S. Ilkow
Centre for Innovative Cancer Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa K1H 8L6, Canada; Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa K1H 8M5, Canada; Corresponding author at: Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Ottawa, Centre for Innovative Cancer Research, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, ON K1H 8L6, Canada.
Oncolytic virus (OV) therapy is potentially a game-changing cancer treatment that has garnered significant interest due to its versatility and multi-modal approaches towards tumor eradication. In the field of cancer immunotherapy, the immunological phenotype of the tumor microenvironment (TME) is an important determinant of disease prognosis and therapeutic success. There is accumulating data that OVs are capable of dramatically altering the TME immune landscape, leading to improved antitumor activity alone or in combination with assorted immune modulators. Herein, we review how OVs disrupt the immunosuppressive TME and can be used strategically to create a “pro-immune” microenvironment that enables and promotes potent, long-lasting host antitumor immune responses. Keywords: Tumor microenvironment, Oncolytic viruses, Cancer immunotherapies, Combination therapies
