Improving immunovirotherapies: the intersection of mathematical modelling and experiments

Combined oncolytic virotherapy and immunotherapy (immunovirotherapy) protocols represent a promising treatment strategy for a range of cancers and offer many advantages over conventional anti-cancer therapies. Nevertheless, there are considerable challenges for this therapeutic modality, and clinica...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Christine E. Engeland, Johannes P.W. Heidbuechel, Robyn P. Araujo, Adrianne L. Jenner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2022-06-01
Series:ImmunoInformatics
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667119022000039
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1846091552101761024
author Christine E. Engeland
Johannes P.W. Heidbuechel
Robyn P. Araujo
Adrianne L. Jenner
author_facet Christine E. Engeland
Johannes P.W. Heidbuechel
Robyn P. Araujo
Adrianne L. Jenner
author_sort Christine E. Engeland
collection DOAJ
description Combined oncolytic virotherapy and immunotherapy (immunovirotherapy) protocols represent a promising treatment strategy for a range of cancers and offer many advantages over conventional anti-cancer therapies. Nevertheless, there are considerable challenges for this therapeutic modality, and clinical treatment failures remain prevalent. Determining which combination regimens to investigate given the burgeoning number of virotherapy and immunotherapy derivatives remains a tremendous challenge for the field. Fortunately, mathematical modelling is well placed to assist in identifying optimal combination regimens and improving these treatments. However, translation of modelling predictions to actionable changes is severely lacking. Here, two mathematicians and two experimentalists discuss their respective viewpoints concerning the current state of immunovirotherapy, the challenges facing this promising field and how contributions from this modelling and experimental research can be better integrated in the future. By initiating this dialogue, we arrive at the conclusion that the translational process can be improved by first conducting extensive mathematical investigations using relevant data before proceeding to pre-clinical and finally clinical trials. By exploiting mathematical approaches such as virtual clinical trials, we may be able to limit the number of virotherapy and immunotherapy combinations that should be tested clinically. Overall, the current integration of efforts by modellers and experimentalists is insufficient to support major translational advances in this field, and it is only with cross-disciplinary efforts that immunovirotherapy can be a robustly effective cancer treatment.
format Article
id doaj-art-0a413972b96b45f781069e84d224fa3f
institution Kabale University
issn 2667-1190
language English
publishDate 2022-06-01
publisher Elsevier
record_format Article
series ImmunoInformatics
spelling doaj-art-0a413972b96b45f781069e84d224fa3f2025-01-10T04:38:19ZengElsevierImmunoInformatics2667-11902022-06-016100011Improving immunovirotherapies: the intersection of mathematical modelling and experimentsChristine E. Engeland0Johannes P.W. Heidbuechel1Robyn P. Araujo2Adrianne L. Jenner3National Centre for Tumour Diseases, University Hospital Heidelberg, Department of Medical Oncology and Clinical Cooperation Unit Virotherapy, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, Germany; Centre for Biomedical Research and Education (ZBAF), School of Medicine, Institute of Virology and Microbiology, Faculty of Health, Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, GermanyNational Centre for Tumour Diseases, University Hospital Heidelberg, Department of Medical Oncology and Clinical Cooperation Unit Virotherapy, German Cancer Research Centre, Heidelberg, GermanySchool of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, AustraliaSchool of Mathematical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia; Corresponding author:Combined oncolytic virotherapy and immunotherapy (immunovirotherapy) protocols represent a promising treatment strategy for a range of cancers and offer many advantages over conventional anti-cancer therapies. Nevertheless, there are considerable challenges for this therapeutic modality, and clinical treatment failures remain prevalent. Determining which combination regimens to investigate given the burgeoning number of virotherapy and immunotherapy derivatives remains a tremendous challenge for the field. Fortunately, mathematical modelling is well placed to assist in identifying optimal combination regimens and improving these treatments. However, translation of modelling predictions to actionable changes is severely lacking. Here, two mathematicians and two experimentalists discuss their respective viewpoints concerning the current state of immunovirotherapy, the challenges facing this promising field and how contributions from this modelling and experimental research can be better integrated in the future. By initiating this dialogue, we arrive at the conclusion that the translational process can be improved by first conducting extensive mathematical investigations using relevant data before proceeding to pre-clinical and finally clinical trials. By exploiting mathematical approaches such as virtual clinical trials, we may be able to limit the number of virotherapy and immunotherapy combinations that should be tested clinically. Overall, the current integration of efforts by modellers and experimentalists is insufficient to support major translational advances in this field, and it is only with cross-disciplinary efforts that immunovirotherapy can be a robustly effective cancer treatment.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667119022000039Oncolytic virotherapyImmunotherapyImmunovirotherapyMathematical ModellingAgent-based modellingVirtual clinical trials
spellingShingle Christine E. Engeland
Johannes P.W. Heidbuechel
Robyn P. Araujo
Adrianne L. Jenner
Improving immunovirotherapies: the intersection of mathematical modelling and experiments
ImmunoInformatics
Oncolytic virotherapy
Immunotherapy
Immunovirotherapy
Mathematical Modelling
Agent-based modelling
Virtual clinical trials
title Improving immunovirotherapies: the intersection of mathematical modelling and experiments
title_full Improving immunovirotherapies: the intersection of mathematical modelling and experiments
title_fullStr Improving immunovirotherapies: the intersection of mathematical modelling and experiments
title_full_unstemmed Improving immunovirotherapies: the intersection of mathematical modelling and experiments
title_short Improving immunovirotherapies: the intersection of mathematical modelling and experiments
title_sort improving immunovirotherapies the intersection of mathematical modelling and experiments
topic Oncolytic virotherapy
Immunotherapy
Immunovirotherapy
Mathematical Modelling
Agent-based modelling
Virtual clinical trials
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2667119022000039
work_keys_str_mv AT christineeengeland improvingimmunovirotherapiestheintersectionofmathematicalmodellingandexperiments
AT johannespwheidbuechel improvingimmunovirotherapiestheintersectionofmathematicalmodellingandexperiments
AT robynparaujo improvingimmunovirotherapiestheintersectionofmathematicalmodellingandexperiments
AT adrianneljenner improvingimmunovirotherapiestheintersectionofmathematicalmodellingandexperiments