Abstract
Head and neck cancer has been treated by a combination of surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy. In recent years, the development of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has made immunotherapy a new treatment method. Oncolytic virus (OV) therapy selectively infects tumor cells with a low-pathogenic virus, lyses tumor cells by the cytopathic effects of the virus, and induces anti-tumor immunity to destroy tumors by the action of immune cells. In OV therapy for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), viruses, such as herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), vaccinia virus, adenovirus, reovirus, measles virus, and vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV), are mainly used. As the combined use of mutant HSV-1 and ICI was successful for the treatment of melanoma, studies are underway to combine OV therapy with radiation, chemotherapy, and other types of immunotherapy. In such therapy, it is important for the virus to selectively replicate in tumor cells, and to express the viral gene and the introduced foreign gene in the tumor cells. In OV therapy for HNSCC, it may be useful to combine systemic and local treatments that improve the delivery and replication of the inoculated oncolytic virus in the tumor cells.
Highlights
Head and neck cancer refers to cancers developing in the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx
This review describes the current status of clinical studies of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) (HNSCC) using Oncolytic virus (OV), and discusses virus-induced changes in the tumor microenvironment (TME), immunogenic cell death (ICD), tumor-associated antigens, anti-tumor and anti-virus immunity, and improved delivery and replication of administered viruses
Intratumoral or intravenous administration of vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)-IFNβ resulted in growth delay of SCC and improved survival compared with controls [64], and the anti-tumor function for VSV-IFNβ significantly increased when combined with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in CT26 colon cancer and B16-F10 melanoma mouse models [65]
Summary
Head and neck cancer refers to cancers developing in the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx. In the KEYNOTE 012 trial for advanced cancer using an ICI, the overall response rate of the patients treated with the anti-PD-1 antibody was 18%, demonstrating that there are cases in which treatment alone is not curative [15]. New immunological therapies, such as antibodies that inhibit other immunosuppressive ligands, vaccine therapy and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells, are being investigated [4,8,16,17,18]. This review describes the current status of clinical studies of HNSCC using OV, and discusses virus-induced changes in the tumor microenvironment (TME), immunogenic cell death (ICD), tumor-associated antigens, anti-tumor and anti-virus immunity, and improved delivery and replication of administered viruses
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