ONCOLYTIC ACTIVITY OF HUMAN RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS

Oncolytic viruses (OVs) are emerging as novel tools in cancer therapy. Oncolytic virotherapy offers an attractive therapeutic combination of tumor-specific killing and immune co-stimulation, therefore amplifying the host immune response against tumors. Moreover, OVs can be engineered for the expression of different immunostimulatory molecules to optimize and enhance the efficacy of oncolytic virotherapy. The effectiveness of OVs has been demonstrated in many preclinical studies for different types of cancers to achieve the aim of personalized cancer therapy. Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), an RNA virus of the Pneumoviridae family causes severe lower respiratory tract infections in infants and immunocompromised individuals. Interestingly, the oncolytic activity of RSV demonstrated in human prostate, hepatocellular, and dermal cancer cells is mostly mediated via apoptotic cell death associated with the impaired NF-κB activation or with the defect of the IFNα/β-induced STAT-1 activation. At the same time, the studies on cervical cancer revealed that RSV infection resulted in autophagy activation and apoptosis through the ROS-BAX and TNF- α-mediated pathways. The rational combinations of OVs, including RSV, with other approaches may benefit patients whose response to conventional therapies is limited. Here, we discuss the oncolytic activity of RSV and its potential use against different types of cancer.