Multiscale model for the effects of adaptive immunity suppression on the viral therapy of cancer

Oncolytic virotherapy—the use of viruses that specifically kill tumor cells—is an innovative and highly promising route for treating cancer. However, its therapeutic outcomes are mainly impaired by the host immune response to the viral infection. In this paper, we propose a multiscale mathematical model to study how the immune response interferes with the viral oncolytic activity. The model assumes that cytotoxic T cells can induce apoptosis in infected cancer cells and that free viruses can be inactivated by neutralizing antibodies or cleared at a constant rate by the innate immune response. Our simulations suggest that reprogramming the immune microenvironment in tumors could substantially enhance the oncolytic virotherapy in immune-competent hosts. Viable routes to such reprogramming are either in situ virus-mediated impairing of CD8+ T cells motility or blockade of B and T lymphocytes recruitment. Our theoretical results can shed light on the design of viral vectors or new protocols with neat potential impacts on the clinical practice.