AUTHOR=Kaufman Howard L. , Shalhout Sophia Z. , Iodice Gail TITLE=Talimogene Laherparepvec: Moving From First-In-Class to Best-In-Class JOURNAL=Frontiers in Molecular Biosciences VOLUME=9 YEAR=2022 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/molecular-biosciences/articles/10.3389/fmolb.2022.834841 DOI=10.3389/fmolb.2022.834841 ISSN=2296-889X ABSTRACT=

Talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) is a modified oncolytic herpes Simplex virus, type 1 (HSV-1) encoding granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF). T-VEC is adapted for selective replication in melanoma cells and GM-CSF was expressed to augment host anti-tumor immunity. T-VEC is indicated for the local treatment of melanoma recurrent after primary surgery and is the first-in-class oncolytic virus to achieve approval by the FDA in 2015. This review will describe the progress made in advancing T-VEC to the most appropriate melanoma patients, expansion to patients with non-melanoma cancers and clinical trial results of T-VEC combination studies. Further, strategies to identify predictive biomarkers of therapeutic response to T-VEC will be discussed. Finally, a brief outline of high-priority future directions for investigation of T-VEC and other promising oncolytic viruses will set the stage for a best-in-class oncolytic virus to bring the maximum benefit of this emerging class of anti-cancer agents to patients with cancer.