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REVIEW article

Front. Immunol.
Sec. Cancer Immunity and Immunotherapy
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1473288
This article is part of the Research Topic Exploring Oncolytic Virotherapy in Solid Tumor Treatment View all 7 articles

Oncolytic virotherapy against lung cancer: key receptors and signaling pathways of viral entry

Provisionally accepted
Wenxun Dong Wenxun Dong 1,2Ying Luo Ying Luo 1,2Daqian He Daqian He 1,2Ming Zhang Ming Zhang 3Zeng Jingtong Zeng Jingtong 1,2Ying Chen Ying Chen 1,2*
  • 1 Yunnan Cancer Hospital, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China
  • 2 Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China
  • 3 Institute of Medical Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Kunming, Yunnan Province, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Lung cancer accounts for the highest cancer-related mortality worldwide. While immunotherapies targeting anti-tumor immune responses have demonstrated efficacy in clinical practice, the demand for novel treatment modalities remains urgent. Oncolytic viruses (OVs), which selectively kill tumor cells while stimulating an anti-tumor immune response, represent a potential breakthrough in lung cancer therapy. The induction of anti-tumor immunity by OVs is central to their overall therapeutic effectiveness. Many natural receptors on the surface of cancer cells are dysregulated, providing potential entry points for OVs. Furthermore, the inherent dysregulation of some key signaling pathways in lung cancer cells promotes proliferation, progression and metastasis, which may facilitate selective viral replication. In this review, we explore the application of OVs in lung cancer by analyzing several major OVs and their corresponding entry receptors. Then, we also examine the key signaling pathways and molecules with the potential to synergize with OVs in modulating the immune tumor microenvironment. Finally, we discuss the combination and administration strategies that warrant further clinical trials for validation. Despite certain limitations, the tolerability of OVs positions virotherapy as a promising avenue in the future of lung cancer treatment.

    Keywords: lung cancer, oncolytic virus, virotherapy, viral entry receptors, Signaling Pathways

    Received: 30 Jul 2024; Accepted: 18 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Dong, Luo, He, Zhang, Jingtong and Chen. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Ying Chen, Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.