Permissibility of Various Colorectal Cancer Cell Lines to Tanapox Virus

Abstract

Oncolytic virotherapy represents an emerging treatment option that employs replication-competent viruses in targeting and destroying cancer cells. In fact, many viruses exhibit preferential, but nonexclusive, tropisms for tumor cells. This viral advantage evolved in tumor cells as a result of the tumor’s evolution to resist both detection and destruction by the immune system. Furthermore, tumor cells are resistant to apoptosis and translational suppression, two defense mechanisms employed by normal cells to combat viral infection. Tanapox virus (TPV) is considered a candidate for oncolytic viral therapy because TPV is capable of replicating in human cell lines, and under normal conditions TPV only produces mild infections, resulting in a relatively safe virus to work with. Furthermore, the life cycle of TPV also presents an advantageous trait for oncolytic virotherapy. TPV’s replication cycle is similar to that of its poxvirus family members, however the replication cycle observed in vitro is longer when compared to that of vaccinia virus (a poxvirus that has show oncolytic promise). This study aimed to determine the susceptibility and extent of productivity of TPV Kenya (TPV) modified with the insertion of enhanced green fluorescence protein (TPV-GFP), in three distinct colorectal cell lines (HCT-116, COLO-205, WI-38), and compare the findings to OMK cells, a known TPV-GFP host and WiDr, a non-cancerous cell line.