ABSTRACT

Introduction: Although viruses have generally been considered as pathogens ever since their discovery, recent research has revealed that they might assume a more important role in the survival and evolution of their hosts. Besides this, they also hold the potential as therapies for the treatment of infections, cancers, and other diseases, with several of them already commercially available on the market. In this review, we will focus on the use of different viruses for treating diseases.

Areas covered: This is a comprehensive review of the application of viruses or virus-based strategies (including bacteriophages, oncolytic viruses, viral vector-based delivery, virus-like particles, and virosomes) for therapeutic purposes. The article provides an overview of the status quo of currently available virus-based therapeutics.

Expert Opinion: The efficacy of virus-based therapies has been emphasized repeatedly in the clinical trials for virotherapy, gene delivery, and virus-like particles (VLPs), with multiple therapeutics approved and marketed. Compared with chemical and biological drugs, viruses represent a unique ‘research niche.’ As more virus-based therapeutics are moving down the pipeline, we shall expect to see a more diversified collection of related products being recognized and applied in clinical settings in the future.

摘要

简介：尽管病毒自发现以来就被普遍认为是病原体，但最近的研究表明，它们可能在宿主的生存和进化中发挥更重要的作用。除此之外，它们还具有治疗感染、癌症和其他疾病的潜力，其中一些已经在市场上销售。在这篇综述中，我们将重点关注使用不同的病毒来治疗疾病。

涵盖的领域：这是对用于治疗目的的病毒或基于病毒的策略（包括噬菌体、溶瘤病毒、基于病毒载体的递送、病毒样颗粒和病毒体）应用的全面审查。该文章概述了当前可用的基于病毒的疗法的现状。

专家观点：病毒疗法、基因传递和病毒样颗粒（VLPs）的临床试验反复强调了基于病毒的疗法的功效，多种疗法已获批准和上市。与化学和生物药物相比，病毒代表了一个独特的“研究领域”。随着越来越多的基于病毒的疗法正在开发中，我们预计未来会看到更多多样化的相关产品在临床环境中得到认可和应用。