IL-12-mediated toxicity from localized oncolytic virotherapy can be reduced using systemic TNF blockade.

Cytokine therapy represents an attractive option to improve the outcomes of cancer patients. However, the systemic delivery of these agents often leads to severe immune-related toxicities, which can prevent their efficient clinical use. One approach to address this issue is the use of recombinant oncolytic viruses to deliver various cytokines directly to the tumor.

Oncolytic myxoma virus is effective in murine models of triple negative breast cancer despite poor rates of infection.

Oncolytic viruses are being heavily investigated as novel methods to treat cancers; however, predicting their therapeutic efficacy remains challenging. The most commonly used predictive tests involve determining the susceptibility of a tumor's malignant cells to infection with an oncolytic agent. Whether these tests are truly predictive of efficacy, however, remains unclear.

TNF blockade enhances the efficacy of myxoma virus-based oncolytic virotherapy.

Background: Oncolytic virotherapy (OV) represents a method to treat a variety of solid tumors by inducing antitumor immune responses. While this therapy has been extremely efficacious in preclinical models, translating these successes into human patients has proven challenging. One of the major reasons for these failures is the existence of immune-regulatory mechanisms, which dampen the efficacy of virally induced antitumor immunity.