Vaccinia Virus as an Oncolytic Agent

Vaccinia Virus as an Oncolytic Agent

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Vaccinia Virus as an Oncolytic Agent

The adverse instances of poor pancreatic cancer diagnosis during its treatment prompts the necessity of intervention seeking for more efficacy in therapeutic techniques. Recently, the oncolytic viruses have emerged to promising in the treatment of cancer for the reason that they have the capability of inducing antitumor effects by multiple action mechanism and also can aim and lyse the cancer cells particularly. Vaccinia virus is one of the most prominent oncolytic agents as it comprises a variety of characteristics effective in terminating the tumor cells in human body. Physicians have been working every day to test if efficacy in dealing with fatal pancreatic cancer that emerges among the leading top five cancer killer ailments. In this discussion, vaccinia virus will be discussed to a profound extent in consideration of its potentiality in the controlling pancreatic cancer menace with regards to the standard immunological and cellular mechanisms in the complaint progression.

Pancreatic cancer has remained a deadly disease in the whole world where complete surgical operation persists the only therapeutic diagnosis. For instance, in the United Kingdom, only five percent of the patient affected with this type of cancer survive the early 1970s. However, it is disgusting to learn that not all types of pancreatic cancer are treatable by the complete surgical process as only about twenty of the disease can be controlled through this process. In consideration of other available treatment procedures, chemotherapy means appears to be then dependable and existing medication for treating pancreatic tumor making the affected person have a live expectancy of six months (Potts, et al. 2017). The act of physicians is trying to increase its effectiveness in curing cancer by adding to it absolute proportionate 5-fluorouracil yields a mere change. It increases the patient’s lifespan with a margin of about one-half half month. Therefore, it depicts that more efficient treatment procedures are relevant and fundamental in preventing further demise as well as having a strong medication in future.

Obliteration of smallpox commonly caused by variola virus by the use of Vaccinia virus is among the monumental and most significant achievement in the traditional medicine line. After the medical doctors realizing it importance back then, they have carried out several experiments in determining its extensive use in curing other diseases. These other infections that have been treated by the use of Vaccinia virus apart from tumor and smallpox include tuberculosis, HIV, malaria, immunotherapies, and influenza. There before, it was discouraging to understand that the scientific analysis has postulated that toxicity could be inherent in combining Vaccinia virus with other elements thus could not be applied in treating the tumor. However, after a wide variety of research and medical tests in the recent days, it has been revealed that the Vaccinia virus has the capability of spreading in the cancer matter and lysing the tumor (Moon & Kirn, 2007).The advanced study and knowledge in the sectors of tumor cell biology as well as molecular virology have played a significant role in the establishment of more dependable oncolytic Vaccinia virus to treat pancreatic cancer.

Generally, oncolytic viruses exceedingly fame as anticancer in the modern society have provided light in medication efficiency as well evoking the interests of dealing with the advanced tumor. In effacing the cancer cell, the oncolytic cells targeted on specific tumor follows a particular path in the cancer cell. Oncolytic viruses work by infecting and replicate in the tumor cell leading to cell lysis and the releases of the toxic substance found in the cell. The released viral particles will significantly affect the surrounding cells while the healthy ones free from tumor prevents virus replication through the cellular defense process. In killing the tumor cells, the oncolytic cells applies two mechanisms. The first process is the one illustrated above where the anticancer directly poison, duplicates, and lysis the cancer cells leaving the healthy body cells. The viral component released by the raptured tumor cells contaminates the neighboring infected cells sparing the healthy ones, and the process continues up to the eradication the entire targeted tumor in the body. The second method involves the oncolytic viruses induces pathogen and death related patterns which are released from the immunogenic cells known to cause death. It also depends on the deviation of the immune reaction towards a cytotoxic outline as the infection leads to the release of chemokines and cytokine.

Its auspicious characteristics instigate the capability of Vaccinia virus terminating tumor cells. Being one of the poxvirus family members, Vaccinia virus is composed of a double-stranded deoxyribonucleic acid virus. Considering its structure, a considerable portion is made of deoxyribonucleic acid as well as some viral enzymes which include polyA and ribonucleic acid polymerase whose outer part is covered by a double lipid membrane. Apart from the intracellular mature infectious mechanism describe above regarding the rapture of a tumor cell, Vaccinia virus has another infective process where extracellular covered virion is transferred through membrane fusion (Kirn, et al. 2018). Having a short lifecycle of around eight hours if a desirable feature that plays a vital role in preventing genome integration through cytoplasm elimination. The replication begins about two hours later after the contagion; Vaccinia virus cell rapture takes place between twelve to forty-eight hours releasing the present viral substances.

Also, the Vaccinia virus is less susceptible to the mechanical changes of the affected cell as its mRNA transcription is independent of the host’s biological processes. Furthermore, it is possible for the Vaccinia virus to be dispersed making them not affected while in the bloodstream, hence capable of reaching distance cancer enhancing active infection of the virus. The methodology is significantly useful in treating pancreatic cancer at the advanced level. Its hypoxic conditions also stimulate the management resilient and aggressive physical composition of the pancreatic tumor. It is evident that the hypoxic nature does not have any effect on the cytotoxicity, duplication as well as viral particle production of the Vaccinia virus. The other distinctive characteristic of Vaccinia virus is that it has a good history line as a safe vaccine which has been used over the past century with no any critical negative repercussions.

In recent years, there has been significant attentiveness in Vaccinia virus in the medication field. The reasons behind its interest in treating cancer regard amenability to genetic modification, cancer tropism, safety as well as its capability of reaching various solid target cancer over a distant (Heo, et al. 2013). However, being a new therapeutic medical mechanism Vaccinia virus has to overcome all the challenges as well as other steeplechases before its entry to the formal clinical application. For advancement in Vaccinia virus genetic composition might be the pathway to its excellence as an oncolytic virus competent in treating the pancreatic tumor. It is challenging to determine the right Vaccinia virus strain be used in cancer treatment. Vaccinia virus replication is hindered by the disruption of the null allele genes in the brain which is significant in curbing the encephalitis which is an awkward condition. Furthermore, the combination of Vaccinia virus with the local treatment techniques to a profound extent leads close intervention regarding Vaccinia virus application in dealing with the devastating illness.

In consideration of the discussion above, the pancreatic tumor is one of the deadly and widespread disorder in the world with no effective cure. However, Vaccinia virus has been a promising oncolytic agent that physicians believe will significantly be necessary as well as a practical treatment method. Vaccinia virus is an excellent example of the cancer-targeted oncolytic virus that has ideal and distinctive features that to an in-depth extent fits the treatment of pancreatic cancer. Modifying the viral genes as well as equipping the Vaccinia virus with healing genes is essential in improving the workability of virus in treating the menace (Chard, et al. 2015). Efficacy of Vaccinia virus in curbing pancreatic cancer can also be developed through the process of combining it with other cancer medications whether the chemotherapy of traditional method. With government intervention and exceedingly support towards the medications field can be vital in the establishment of Vaccinia virus as the current and sound treatment to pancreatic tumor. It devastating to understand that this kind of cancer results to demise of high number of people in the universe, with around three percent life expectancy of the infected patients. The trials as well as research done by the physician will at the long-run yield sound solution that will enable the adoption of Vaccinia virus as the major pancreatic cancer treatment vaccine.

References

Chard, L. S., Maniati, E., Wang, P., Zhang, Z., Gao, D., Wang, J., … & Wang, S. (2015). A vaccinia virus armed with interleukin-10 is a promising therapeutic agent for treatment of murine pancreatic cancer. Clinical cancer research, 21(2), 405-416.

Heo, J., Reid, T., Ruo, L., Breitbach, C. J., Rose, S., Bloomston, M., … & Burke, J. (2013). Randomized dose-finding clinical trial of oncolytic immunotherapeutic vaccinia JX-594 in liver cancer. Nature medicine, 19(3), 329.

Kirn, D., Bell, J., Breitbach, C., Moon, A., Hwang, T. H., Lee, Y. K., & Kim, M. K. (2018). U.S. Patent No. 9,919,047. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Moon Crompton, A., & Kirn, D. H. (2007). From ONYX-015 to armed vaccinia viruses: the education and evolution of oncolytic virus development. Current cancer drug targets, 7(2), 133-139.

Potts, K. G., Irwin, C. R., Favis, N. A., Pink, D. B., Vincent, K. M., Lewis, J. D., … & Evans, D. H. (2017). Deletion of F4L (ribonucleotide reductase) in vaccinia virus produces a selective oncolytic virus and promotes anti‐tumor immunity with superior safety in bladder cancer models. EMBO molecular medicine, 9(5), 638-654.