Mesenchymal stem cells as carrier cells to enable effective intratumoral delivery of oncolytic virus for oncolytic virotherapy: a systematic review

Oncolytic viruses, which may be naturally occurring or genetically engineered, are a type of virus that infects and destroy cancer cells preferentially. Owing to their selectivity, they outperform conventional chemotherapy and radiotherapy, which both have a tendency to impact non-target cells and cause unwanted adverse side effects. Oncolytic virotherapy is a type of cancer treatment in which oncolytic viruses are deliberately introduced into patients affected with cancers in order for them to infect and destroy cancer cells locally or systemically, in a manner analogous to chemotherapy but with a greater degree of selectivity. Multiple studies indicate that oncolytic virotherapy is effective in vitro but in vivo findings remain ambiguous due to the approach's primary limitation: inefficient therapeutic agent delivery to its target, which is heavily influenced by the immune system. Here, we propose overcoming this limitation by exploiting a recent discovery in cancer research: a carrier cell. By exploiting their tumor-promoting activities, mesenchymal stem cells may be employed for cancer therapy by serving as a carrier for the oncolytic viruses toward their target. This approach directly addresses the limitation of conventional oncolytic virotherapy, where oncolytic viruses are often poorly delivered after systemic administration.