RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE:CellPress: Emerging Field of OV Based Cancer ImmunotherapyMany oncolytic viruses are currently being tested as potential cancer therapeutic agents. To be effective, these viruses must replicate and propagate efficiently through the tumor mass. However, it has been demonstrated that the hypoxia that characterizes many tumors is an obstacle to viral therapy because of its inhibition of viral replication and propagation in an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment (TME).
In overcoming the hypoxia that characterizes solid tumors and a hostile TME, ONCY's oncolytic virus pelareorep (reovirus) is able to down-regulate HIF-1α signaling, resulting in HIF-1α inhibition, and by doing so is able to convert an otherwise aggressive and hypoxic tumor microenvironment (TME) into one that can promote T cell function, and is conducive for immune checkpoint inhibition, as the AWARE-1 study is demonstrating.