Pro-oncogenic cell signaling machinery as a target for oncolytic viruses

Viruses function in close harmony with the signaling machinery of their host. Upon exposure to the cell, a battery of viral products become engaged in boosting friendly signaling elements of the host or suppressing harmful ones. The efficiency of viral replication is indeed the biological outcome of this interaction between cellular and host signaling molecules. Oncolytic viruses, natural or man-made, follow the same set of rules of engagement. Pro-oncogenic cell signaling machinery, therefore, is undoubtedly the most important area influencing the development of the next generation of effective, specific and rationally designed oncolytic viruses. Ras signaling, with its central role in what is known today as molecular oncology, is an attractive topic for studying the behavior of viruses versus cancer cells and to develop strategies to target cancer cells on the basis of such platform. This work reviews the development of oncolytic herpes viruses capable of targeting Ras signaling pathway along with a few other examples of viruses which are developed to contain specificity for certain pro-oncogenic characteristics of their host cells.