A viral strategy to ambush tumors

Abstract

A new combinatorial approach harnesses the power of immuno- and virotherapy in a vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) vector carrying a cDNA library that expresses normal human prostate antigens, thus providing proof of principle that this vaccine can induce prostate tumor rejection in mice (pages 854–859). This strategy might bypass many of the issues associated with conventional cancer immuno- or virotherapy.

Figure 1

Kottke et al. propose a model in which murine TC2 prostate cancer can be treated in vivo by the intravenous administration of oncolytic VSV encoding a cDNA library derived from normal human prostate. When histologically distinct, recurrent TC2 tumors arose, they were effectively ambushed by inoculation with VSV encoding a cDNA library from mouse TC2R prostate cancer.