Tiantian Zhang and Karim Essani*

Laboratory of Virology, Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, USA

*Corresponding Author: Karim Essani, Laboratory of Virology, Department of Biological Sciences, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, USA.

Received: June 04, 2017; Published: September 25, 2017

Citation: Tiantian Zhang and Karim Essani. “Oncolytic Potential of Tanapoxvirus for the Treatment of Melanoma”. Acta Scientific Cancer Biology 1.2 (2018).

Abstract

  Melanoma is the deadliest skin cancer with significant morbidity and mortality. Oncolytic viruses (OVs), which are naturally occurring or genetically engineered viruses, have emerged as a class of novel therapeutic agents for melanoma treatment. At the confluence of virology, immunology and genetic engineering, OVs have been designed and optimized into anti-cancer agents using versatile strategies.

  Tanapoxvirus (TPV), which possesses a large genome and causes only mild self-limiting diseases, appears as an ideal OV candi- date. Here, we provide a summary of applying engineered TPVs as experimental melanoma immuno-virotherapy in our work, emphasizing the successful strategies used to achieve increased onco-specificity, oncolysis and immuno-reactivity.

Keywords: Tanapoxvirus, Oncolytic virotherapy, Melanoma, Interleukin-2, Neuregulin, Matrix metalloproteinase

Copyright: © 2018 Tiantian Zhang and Karim Essani. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.