• Oncolytic herpes simplex virus as a novel tool for colorectal cancer therapy
  • Piruz Shadbash,1 Seyed Reza Mohebbi,2,* Seyed Masoud Hosseini,3 Mohammad Reza Zali,4
    1. Basic and Molecular Epidemiology of Gastrointestinal Disorders Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    2. Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran
    3. Department of Microbiology and Microbial Biotechnology, Faculty of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
    4. Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran


  • Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common and important progressive malignancy with colon or rectum tissue origin. CRC is the third most prevalent type of tumors in the world. Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a scarce population in any kind of cancer, such as CRC, which are tumorigenic and responsible for cancer relapse and metastasis.
  • Methods: . CSCs have been separated from a group of different solid tumors lately, however, in colon cancer, the isolation of CSCs is disputing yet. The isolation and diagnosis of CSCs have given new aims for treatment. The various treatment strategies for colorectal cancer include radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and surgery, used separately or in different combinations. However, these methods do not kill tumors or inhibit their progression for all cases.
  • Results: . In the case of surgery, which is possible only before metastasis, even a single cancer cell left out during surgery, may cause relapse of cancer again. So, other novel methods which particularly target the cancer cells and leave out the remaining normal cells, can be promising solutions. Oncolytic viruses have been suggested to be an effective tool for cancer treatment. Oncolytic herpes simplex viruses (HSV) are an efficient strategy for eliminating CRC cells in preclinical models.
  • Conclusion: Recently, researchers tested the effectiveness of an oncolytic herpes simplex virus type 2 (OHSV2). In vivo results remarkably were promising and it could restrain tumor growth. It seems that OHSV is an efficient suppression method against colon cancer cells and it may improve treatment options for colon cancer patients.
  • Keywords: Colorectal cancer, Cancer stem cell, Tumorigenicity, Oncolytic viruses