Belonging to the herpesviridae family, human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a well-known ubiquitous pathogen that establishes a lifelong infection in humans. Recently, a beneficial tumor-cytoreductive role of CMV infection has been defined in human and animal models. Described as a potential anti-tumoral activity, HCMV modulates the tumor microenvironment mainly by inducing cell death through apoptosis and prompting a robust stimulatory effect on the immune cells infiltrating the tumor tissue. However, major current limitations embrace transient protective effect and a viral dissemination potential in immunosuppressed hosts. The latter could be counteracted through direct viral intratumoral delivery, use of non-human strains, or even defective CMV vectors to ascertain transformed cells-selective tropism. This potential oncolytic activity could be complemented by tackling further platforms, namely combination with immune checkpoint inhibitors or epigenetic therapy, as well as the use of second-generation chimeric oncovirus, for instance HCMV/HSV-1 oncolytic virus. Overall, preliminary data support the use of CMV in viral oncolytic therapy as a viable option, establishing thus a potential new modality, where further assessment through extensive basic research armed by molecular biotechnology is compulsory.

人类巨细胞病毒（HCMV）属于疱疹病毒科，是一种众所周知的普遍存在的病原体，可在人类中终生感染。最近，在人和动物模型中已经确定了CMV感染的有益的肿瘤细胞减少作用。HCMV被描述为一种潜在的抗肿瘤活性，主要通过诱导细胞凋亡（通过凋亡）和促进对浸润肿瘤组织的免疫细胞的强烈刺激作用来调节肿瘤微环境。然而，目前的主要局限性包括在免疫抑制宿主中的瞬时保护作用和病毒传播潜能。后者可以通过直接病毒瘤内递送，使用非人株或什至有缺陷的CMV载体来确定转化的细胞选择性向性来抵消。这种潜在的溶瘤活性可以通过采用其他平台（即与免疫检查点抑制剂或表观遗传学疗法组合）以及使用第二代嵌合癌病毒（例如HCMV / HSV-1溶瘤病毒）来补充。总体而言，初步数据支持在病毒溶瘤治疗中使用CMV作为一种可行的选择，从而建立了潜在的新模式，其中必须通过分子生物技术进行的广泛基础研究进行进一步评估。