This month, the US FDA approved for the first time a virus engineered to fight cancer. A therapy for advanced melanoma, the genetically engineered virus, talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) is a herpesvirus that triggers an immune response against cancer. Cancer cells often cannot mount normal antiviral responses, resulting in their preferential infection by viruses. The infected tumor cells are destroyed, with healthy cells often unaffected. T-VEC takes advantage of this phenomenon and stimulates the immune system to destroy malignant cells. The virus must be injected into tumors directly but appears to affect cancer in other areas of the body. There is also evidence that T-VEC can boost the effects of immunotherapy. Scientists are working to extend T-VEC’s abilities and to use other viruses as therapies. Dozens of similar viruses are currently in clinical trials, and researchers hope that T-VEC’s FDA approval will prompt an increase in resources to develop such therapies further.

Source: Nature