Virus Therapies in Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma

This chapter will review the utilization of therapeutic viruses for the treatment of mesothelioma. For a variety of reasons, certain viruses can preferentially infect mesothelioma cells and through natural replication cycle result in cancer cell lysis and spread of virus to surrounding cancer cells. Since the host antiviral response is a major limitation to clinical application of virotherapy, viruses have mainly been employed in tumor types that are directly injectable. Because mesothelioma is predominantly localized to the pleural or peritoneal cavity and is hallmarked by local progression rather than distant metastasis, it has been seen as an ideal candidate tumor for treatment with virus therapy. Thus far several viruses have demonstrated preclinical activity in mesothelioma models. These data have led to the first clinical trial testing oncolytic measles virus specifically in patients with mesothelioma. The rationale and available data for the potential efficacy of oncolytic viruses for mesothelioma will be reviewed in this chapter.

Keywords: Adenovirus, herpes virus, measles virus, Newcastle disease virus, oncolytic virus, vaccinia virus, vesicular stomatitis virus.