Use of oncolytic viruses for the eradication of drug-resistant cancer cells

Targeted therapy using small-molecule inhibitors is a promising new therapy approach against cancer, but drug-resistant mutants present an obstacle to success. Oncolytic virus therapy, where viruses replicate specifically in cancer cells and kill them, is another promising therapy approach against cancer. While encouraging results have been observed in clinical trials, consistent success has not been possible so far. Based on a computational framework, I report that even if oncolytic virus therapy fails to eradicate a cancer, it can have the potential to eradicate the sub-population of drug-resistant cancer cells. Once this has occurred, targeted drug therapy can be used to induce cancer remission. For this to work, a drug resistance mutation must confer a certain fitness cost to the cell, as has been documented in the literature. The reason for this finding is that in the presence of a shared virus, the faster growing (drug-sensitive) cell population produces an amount of virus that is too much for the slower growing (drug-resistant) cell population to survive. This is derived from a population dynamic principle known as apparent competition. Therefore, a sequential combination of oncolytic virus and targeted therapies can overcome major weaknesses of either approach alone.