Oncolytic Herpes Virus Type-1 for the Treatment of Cancers

Description: Recently oncolytic HSV has shown to have significant promise for the treatment of many different types of tumors in preclinical studies in experimental animals as well as in human clinical trials. Tumor treatment with oncolytic HSV has been shown to induce antitumor immune responses. This invention is a new oncolytic herpes simplex virus type-1 that was engineered to quickly replicate and spread in cancer cells without spreading to normal cells. The new viruses have specific gene deletions to ensure safety and preferential replication in cancer cells. In addition, these viruses have one or more mutations within viral genes that cause extensive virus-induced cell fusion (syncytial mutations) ensuring efficient spread of the virus within tumors.