Oncolytic Viruses as Cancer Therapeutic agents : Current Status of Oncolytic Viruses

Most of anticancer agents used by the chemotherapy of cancer act in the division process of the celland show an effect, and cause side effects such as a drop and nausea of the immunity, the hair loss, whichreduce the quality of life （QOL） of the patient. In this article, the history and current status of oncolyticviruses, which are cancer therapeutic agents that do not cause these side effects and attracting the mostattention now are introduced. An oncolytic virus is a virus that preferentially infects and kills cancer cells.As the infected cancer cells are destroyed by oncolysis, they release new infectious virus particles todestroy the remaining tumor. Oncolytic viruses are thought not only to cause direct destruction of thetumour cells, but also to stimulate host anti-tumour immune responses. In 2015 the first oncolytic viruswas approved by FDA as the cancer therapeutic agent. The clinical trial using the oncolytic virus ispushed forward now in Japan. It is hoped that the virus therapy for cancer treatment with tumorsolubility virus greatly develops from now on.