2024 Volume 61 Issue 1 Pages 37-42
In pediatric cancer, while the prognosis has been improving, some cancers still have poor outcomes. In treating pediatric cancer, besides aiming for a cure, minimizing late effects is crucial. Recently, oncolytic virotherapy (OV) has become promising as a novel therapy. Various types of OVs have been developed worldwide; however, they should have minimal adverse effects on normal cells, infect only tumor cells, and show antitumor effects when the virus replicates in the tumor cells and spreads successively to neighboring tumor cells. In addition to the direct cell-killing effect of the virus, OV is also expected to have an immunostimulatory effect by changing the tumor microenvironment from immunologically “cold” to “hot,” and the latter anti-tumor effect has been attracting more attention recently. Notably, in June 2021, ‘Tesevlatrex’ (Delictat; G47Δ) was the first OV therapy approved in Japan for malignant glioma treatment. We have modified adenovirus genes and developed OV targeting refractory PAX3::FOXO1-positive rhabdomyosarcoma and rhabdoid tumors, challenging pediatric cancers. First, this presentation provides an overview of the potential appeal of OV, from its therapeutic development history to its recent research and clinical applications. Subsequently, the status and prospects of OV for pediatric cancer will be reviewed.
