A Cancer-Favoring, Engineered Vaccinia Virus for Cholangiocarcinoma

While oncolytic vaccinia virus-based therapy has shown promising results for uncured patients with cancer, its effects on cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) remain unclear. Here, we evaluated the anti-cancer activity of the cancer-favoring oncolytic vaccinia virus (CVV), which was recognized as a promising therapy for stem cell-like colon cancer cells (SCCs) and metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in previous studies. CCA presents major challenges, such as clinical complexity, stem cell cancer characteristics, a high refractory rate, resistance to conventional therapy, and a dismal prognosis. In the present study, we confirmed the oncolytic activity of the CVV in CCA with a slightly alkaline microenvironment (pH 7–8), in which the CVV was stable and highly effective at infecting CCA. Taken together, our findings suggest that CVV-based therapy is highly suitable for the treatment of CCA.