Refine
Has Fulltext
- yes (1348) (remove)
Is part of the Bibliography
- yes (1348)
Year of publication
Document Type
- Journal article (1348) (remove)
Language
- English (1348) (remove)
Keywords
- Biochemie (80)
- Physiologische Chemie (45)
- Biologie (30)
- biodiversity (23)
- evolution (20)
- gene expression (17)
- cancer (16)
- Cytologie (14)
- foraging (14)
- Apis mellifera (13)
Institute
- Theodor-Boveri-Institut für Biowissenschaften (1348) (remove)
Sonstige beteiligte Institutionen
- Mildred-Scheel-Nachwuchszentrum (2)
- Ökologische Station Fabrikschleichach (2)
- Core Unit Systemmedizin (1)
- DNA Analytics Core Facility, Biocenter, University of Wuerzburg, Wuerzburg, Germany (1)
- DNA Analytics Core Facility, Biocenter, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany (1)
- Department of Animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany (1)
- EMBL, Structural and Computational Biology Unit, Heidelberg, Germany (1)
- Forschungsstation Fabrikschleichach (1)
- Fraunhofer Institute Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB) (1)
- IZKF (Interdisziplinäres Zentrum für Klinische Forschung), Universität Würzburg (1)
ResearcherID
- D-1221-2009 (1)
Background: Patterns that arise from an ecological process can be driven as much from the landscape over which the process is run as it is by some intrinsic properties of the process itself. The disentanglement of these effects is aided if it possible to run models of the process over artificial landscapes with controllable spatial properties. A number of different methods for the generation of so-called ‘neutral landscapes’ have been developed to provide just such a tool. Of these methods, a particular class that simulate fractional Brownian motion have shown particular promise. The existing methods of simulating fractional Brownian motion suffer from a number of problems however: they are often not easily generalisable to an arbitrary number of dimensions and produce outputs that can exhibit some undesirable artefacts. Methodology: We describe here an updated algorithm for the generation of neutral landscapes by fractional Brownian motion that do not display such undesirable properties. Using Monte Carlo simulation we assess the anisotropic properties of landscapes generated using the new algorithm described in this paper and compare it against a popular benchmark algorithm. Conclusion/Significance: The results show that the existing algorithm creates landscapes with values strongly correlated in the diagonal direction and that the new algorithm presented here corrects this artefact. A number of extensions of the algorithm described here are also highlighted: we describe how the algorithm can be employed to generate landscapes that display different properties in different dimensions and how they can be combined with an environmental gradient to produce landscapes that combine environmental variation at the local and macro scales.
Organic farming is one of the most successful agri-environmental schemes, as humans benefit from high quality food, farmers from higher prices for their products and it often successfully protects biodiversity. However there is little knowledge if organic farming also increases ecosystem services like pest control. We assessed 30 triticale fields (15 organic vs. 15 conventional) and recorded vascular plants, pollinators, aphids and their predators. Further, five conventional fields which were treated with insecticides were compared with 10 non-treated conventional fields. Organic fields had five times higher plant species richness and about twenty times higher pollinator species richness compared to conventional fields. Abundance of pollinators was even more than one-hundred times higher on organic fields. In contrast, the abundance of cereal aphids was five times lower in organic fields, while predator abundances were three times higher and predator-prey ratios twenty times higher in organic fields, indicating a significantly higher potential for biological pest control in organic fields. Insecticide treatment in conventional fields had only a short-term effect on aphid densities while later in the season aphid abundances were even higher and predator abundances lower in treated compared to untreated conventional fields. Our data indicate that insecticide treatment kept aphid predators at low abundances throughout the season, thereby significantly reducing top-down control of aphid populations. Plant and pollinator species richness as well as predator abundances and predator-prey ratios were higher at field edges compared to field centres, highlighting the importance of field edges for ecosystem services. In conclusion organic farming increases biodiversity, including important functional groups like plants, pollinators and predators which enhance natural pest control. Preventative insecticide application in conventional fields has only short-term effects on aphid densities but long-term negative effects on biological pest control. Therefore conventional farmers should restrict insecticide applications to situations where thresholds for pest densities are reached.
The diversity of species is striking, but can be far exceeded by the chemical diversity of compounds collected, produced or used by them. Here, we relate the specificity of plant-consumer interactions to chemical diversity applying a comparative network analysis to both levels. Chemical diversity was explored for interactions between tropical stingless bees and plant resins, which bees collect for nest construction and to deter predators and microbes. Resins also function as an environmental source for terpenes that serve as appeasement allomones and protection against predators when accumulated on the bees’ body surfaces. To unravel the origin of the bees’ complex chemical profiles, we investigated resin collection and the processing of resin-derived terpenes. We therefore analyzed chemical networks of tree resins, foraging networks of resin collecting bees, and their acquired chemical networks. We revealed that 113 terpenes in nests of six bee species and 83 on their body surfaces comprised a subset of the 1,117 compounds found in resins from seven tree species. Sesquiterpenes were the most variable class of terpenes. Albeit widely present in tree resins, they were only found on the body surface of some species, but entirely lacking in others. Moreover, whereas the nest profile of Tetragonula melanocephala contained sesquiterpenes, its surface profile did not. Stingless bees showed a generalized collecting behavior among resin sources, and only a hitherto undescribed species-specific ‘‘filtering’’ of resin-derived terpenes can explain the variation in chemical profiles of nests and body surfaces fromdifferent species. The tight relationship between bees and tree resins of a large variety of species elucidates why the bees’ surfaces contain a much higher chemodiversity than other hymenopterans.
Background: Successful cooperation depends on reliable identification of friends and foes. Social insects discriminate colony members (nestmates/friends) from foreign workers (non-nestmates/foes) by colony-specific, multi-component colony odors. Traditionally, complex processing in the brain has been regarded as crucial for colony recognition. Odor information is represented as spatial patterns of activity and processed in the primary olfactory neuropile, the antennal lobe (AL) of insects, which is analogous to the vertebrate olfactory bulb. Correlative evidence indicates that the spatial activity patterns reflect odor-quality, i.e., how an odor is perceived. For colony odors, alternatively, a sensory filter in the peripheral nervous system was suggested, causing specific anosmia to nestmate colony odors. Here, we investigate neuronal correlates of colony odors in the brain of a social insect to directly test whether they are anosmic to nestmate colony odors and whether spatial activity patterns in the AL can predict how odor qualities like ‘‘friend’’ and ‘‘foe’’ are attributed to colony odors. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using ant dummies that mimic natural conditions, we presented colony odors and investigated their neuronal representation in the ant Camponotus floridanus. Nestmate and non-nestmate colony odors elicited neuronal activity: In the periphery, we recorded sensory responses of olfactory receptor neurons (electroantennography), and in the brain, we measured colony odor specific spatial activity patterns in the AL (calcium imaging). Surprisingly, upon repeated stimulation with the same colony odor, spatial activity patterns were variable, and as variable as activity patterns elicited by different colony odors. Conclusions: Ants are not anosmic to nestmate colony odors. However, spatial activity patterns in the AL alone do not provide sufficient information for colony odor discrimination and this finding challenges the current notion of how odor quality is coded. Our result illustrates the enormous challenge for the nervous system to classify multi-component odors and indicates that other neuronal parameters, e.g., precise timing of neuronal activity, are likely necessary for attribution of odor quality to multi-component odors.
Background: Gene function analysis of the obligate intracellular bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae is hampered by the facts that this organism is inaccessible to genetic manipulations and not cultivable outside the host. The genomes of several strains have been sequenced; however, very little information is available on the gene structure and transcriptome of C. pneumoniae. Results: Using a differential RNA-sequencing approach with specific enrichment of primary transcripts, we defined the transcriptome of purified elementary bodies and reticulate bodies of C. pneumoniae strain CWL-029; 565 transcriptional start sites of annotated genes and novel transcripts were mapped. Analysis of adjacent genes for cotranscription revealed 246 polycistronic transcripts. In total, a distinct transcription start site or an affiliation to an operon could be assigned to 862 out of 1,074 annotated protein coding genes. Semi-quantitative analysis of mapped cDNA reads revealed significant differences for 288 genes in the RNA levels of genes isolated from elementary bodies and reticulate bodies. We have identified and in part confirmed 75 novel putative non-coding RNAs. The detailed map of transcription start sites at single nucleotide resolution allowed for the first time a comprehensive and saturating analysis of promoter consensus sequences in Chlamydia. Conclusions: The precise transcriptional landscape as a complement to the genome sequence will provide new insights into the organization, control and function of genes. Novel non-coding RNAs and identified common promoter motifs will help to understand gene regulation of this important human pathogen.
Testing Pollen of Single and Stacked Insect-Resistant Bt-Maize on In vitro Reared Honey Bee Larvae
(2011)
The ecologically and economic important honey bee (Apis mellifera) is a key non-target arthropod species in environmental risk assessment (ERA) of genetically modified (GM) crops. Honey bee larvae are directly exposed to transgenic products by the consumption of GM pollen. But most ERA studies only consider responses of adult bees, although Bt-proteins primarily affect the larval phases of target organisms. We adopted an in vitro larvae rearing system, to assess lethal and sublethal effects of Bt-pollen consumption in a standardized eco-toxicological bioassay. The effects of pollen from two Bt-maize cultivars, one expressing a single and the other a total of three Bt-proteins, on the survival and prepupae weight of honey bee larvae were analyzed. The control treatments included pollen from three non-transgenic maize varieties and of Heliconia rostrata. Three days old larvae were fed the realistic exposure dose of 2 mg pollen within the semi-artificial diet. The larvae were monitored over 120 h, until the prepupal stage, where larvae terminate feeding and growing. Neither single nor stacked Bt-maize pollen showed an adverse effect on larval survival and the prepupal weight. In contrast, feeding of H. rostrata pollen caused significant toxic effects. The results of this study indicate that pollen of the tested Bt-varieties does not harm the development of in vitro reared A. mellifera larvae. To sustain the ecosystem service of pollination, Bt-impact on A. mellifera should always be a crucial part of regulatory biosafety assessments. We suggest that our approach of feeding GM pollen on in vitro reared honey bee larvae is well suited of becoming a standard bioassay in regulatory risk assessments schemes of GM crops.
The Wuerzburg Hybridoma Library against the Drosophila brain represents a collection of around 200 monoclonal antibodies that bind to specific structures in the Drosophila brain. Here we describe the immunohistochemical staining patterns, the Western blot signals of one- and two-dimensional electrophoretic separation, and the mass spectrometric characterization of the target protein candidates recognized by the monoclonal antibodies aa2 and ab52 from the library. Analysis of a mutant of a candidate gene identified the Drosophila homolog of the Epidermal growth factor receptor Pathway Substrate clone 15 (Eps15) as the antigen for these two antibodies.
Background
Neisseria meningitidis is a naturally transformable, facultative pathogen colonizing the human nasopharynx. Here, we analyze on a genome-wide level the impact of recombination on gene-complement diversity and virulence evolution in N. meningitidis. We combined comparative genome hybridization using microarrays (mCGH) and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) of 29 meningococcal isolates with computational comparison of a subset of seven meningococcal genome sequences.
Principal Findings
We found that lateral gene transfer of minimal mobile elements as well as prophages are major forces shaping meningococcal population structure. Extensive gene content comparison revealed novel associations of virulence with genetic elements besides the recently discovered meningococcal disease associated (MDA) island. In particular, we identified an association of virulence with a recently described canonical genomic island termed IHT-E and a differential distribution of genes encoding RTX toxin- and two-partner secretion systems among hyperinvasive and non-hyperinvasive lineages. By computationally screening also the core genome for signs of recombination, we provided evidence that about 40% of the meningococcal core genes are affected by recombination primarily within metabolic genes as well as genes involved in DNA replication and repair. By comparison with the results of previous mCGH studies, our data indicated that genetic structuring as revealed by mCGH is stable over time and highly similar for isolates from different geographic origins.
Conclusions
Recombination comprising lateral transfer of entire genes as well as homologous intragenic recombination has a profound impact on meningococcal population structure and genome composition. Our data support the hypothesis that meningococcal virulence is polygenic in nature and that differences in metabolism might contribute to virulence.
Background
Currently established methods to identify viable and non-viable cells of cyanobacteria are either time-consuming (eg. plating) or preparation-intensive (eg. fluorescent staining). In this paper we present a new and fast viability assay for unicellular cyanobacteria, which uses red chlorophyll fluorescence and an unspecific green autofluorescence for the differentiation of viable and non-viable cells without the need of sample preparation.
Results
The viability assay for unicellular cyanobacteria using red and green autofluorescence was established and validated for the model organism Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. Both autofluorescence signals could be observed simultaneously allowing a direct classification of viable and non-viable cells. The results were confirmed by plating/colony count, absorption spectra and chlorophyll measurements. The use of an automated fluorescence microscope and a novel ImageJ based image analysis plugin allow a semi-automated analysis.
Conclusions
The new method simplifies the process of viability analysis and allows a quick and accurate analysis. Furthermore results indicate that a combination of the new assay with absorption spectra or chlorophyll concentration measurements allows the estimation of the vitality of cells.
Background:
In a number of gram-positive bacteria, including Listeria, the general stress response is regulated by the alternative sigma factor B (SigB). Common stressors which lead to the activation of SigB and the SigB-dependent regulon are high osmolarity, acid and several more. Recently is has been shown that also blue and red light activates SigB in Bacillus subtilis.
Methodology/Principal Findings:
By qRT-PCR we analyzed the transcriptional response of the pathogen L. monocytogenes to blue and red light in wild type bacteria and in isogenic deletion mutants for the putative blue-light receptor Lmo0799 and the stress sigma factor SigB. It was found that both blue (455 nm) and red (625 nm) light induced the transcription of sigB and SigB-dependent genes, this induction was completely abolished in the SigB mutant. The blue-light effect was largely dependent on Lmo0799, proving that this protein is a genuine blue-light receptor. The deletion of lmo0799 enhanced the red-light effect, the underlying mechanism as well as that of SigB activation by red light remains unknown. Blue light led to an increased transcription of the internalin A/B genes and of bacterial invasiveness for Caco-2 enterocytes. Exposure to blue light also strongly inhibited swimming motility of the bacteria in a Lmo0799- and SigB-dependent manner, red light had no effect there.
Conclusions/Significance:
Our data established that visible, in particular blue light is an important environmental signal with an impact on gene expression and physiology of the non-phototrophic bacterium L. monocytogenes. In natural environments these effects will result in sometimes random but potentially also cyclic fluctuations of gene activity, depending on the light conditions prevailing in the respective habitat.
We review fluorescent probes that can be photoswitched or photoactivated and are suited for single-molecule localization based super-resolution microscopy. We exploit the underlying photochemical mechanisms that allow photoswitching of many synthetic organic fluorophores in the presence of reducing agents, and study the impact of these on the photoswitching properties of various photoactivatable or photoconvertible fluorescent proteins. We have identified mEos2 as a fluorescent protein that exhibits reversible photoswitching under various imaging buffer conditions and present strategies to characterize reversible photoswitching. Finally, we discuss opportunities to combine fluorescent proteins with organic fluorophores for dual-color photoswitching microscopy.
How do physico-chemical stimulus features, perception, and physiology relate? Given the multi-layered and parallel architecture of brains, the question specifically is where physiological activity patterns correspond to stimulus features and/or perception. Perceived distances between six odour pairs are defined behaviourally from four independent odour recognition tasks. We find that, in register with the physico-chemical distances of these odours, perceived distances for 3octanol and n-amylacetate are consistently smallest in all four tasks, while the other five odour pairs are about equally distinct. Optical imaging in the antennal lobe, using a calcium sensor transgenically expressed in only first-order sensory or only second-order olfactory projection neurons, reveals that 3-octanol and n-amylacetate are distinctly represented in sensory neurons, but appear merged in projection neurons. These results may suggest that within-antennal lobe processing funnels sensory signals into behaviourally meaningful categories, in register with the physico-chemical relatedness of the odours.
Fluorescently labeled human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) derivatives, combined with the use of advanced fluorescence microscopy techniques, allow the direct visualization of dynamic events and individual steps in the viral life cycle. HIV proteins tagged with fluorescent proteins (FPs) have been successfully used for live-cell imaging analyses of HIV-cell interactions. However, FPs display limitations with respect to their physicochemical properties, and their maturation kinetics. Furthermore, several independent FP-tagged constructs have to be cloned and characterized in order to obtain spectral variations suitable for multi-color imaging setups. In contrast, the so-called SNAP-tag represents a genetically encoded non-fluorescent tag which mediates specific covalent coupling to fluorescent substrate molecules in a self-labeling reaction. Fusion of the SNAP-tag to the protein of interest allows specific labeling of the fusion protein with a variety of synthetic dyes, thereby offering enhanced flexibility for fluorescence imaging approaches. Here we describe the construction and characterization of the HIV derivative HIV(SNAP), which carries the SNAP-tag as an additional domain within the viral structural polyprotein Gag. Introduction of the tag close to the C-terminus of the matrix domain of Gag did not interfere with particle assembly, release or proteolytic virus maturation. The modified virions were infectious and could be propagated in tissue culture, albeit with reduced replication capacity. Insertion of the SNAP domain within Gag allowed specific staining of the viral polyprotein in the context of virus producing cells using a SNAP reactive dye as well as the visualization of individual virions and viral budding sites by stochastic optical reconstruction microscopy. Thus, HIV(SNAP) represents a versatile tool which expands the possibilities for the analysis of HIV-cell interactions using live cell imaging and sub-diffraction fluorescence microscopy.
Background:
Small animal models of human diseases are an indispensable aspect of pre-clinical research. Being dynamic, most pathologies demand extensive longitudinal monitoring to understand disease mechanisms, drug efficacy and side effects. These considerations often demand the concomitant development of monitoring systems with sufficient temporal and spatial resolution.
Methodology and Results:
This study attempts to configure and optimize a clinical 3 Tesla magnetic resonance scanner to facilitate imaging of small animal central nervous system pathologies. The hardware of the scanner was complemented by a custom-built, 4-channel phased array coil system. Extensive modification of standard sequence protocols was carried out based on tissue relaxometric calculations. Proton density differences between the gray and white matter of the rodent spinal cord along with transverse relaxation due to magnetic susceptibility differences at the cortex and striatum of both rats and mice demonstrated statistically significant differences. The employed parallel imaging reconstruction algorithms had distinct properties dependent on the sequence type and in the presence of the contrast agent. The attempt to morphologically phenotype a normal healthy rat brain in multiple planes delineated a number of anatomical regions, and all the clinically relevant sequels following acute cerebral ischemia could be adequately characterized. Changes in blood-brain-barrier permeability following ischemia-reperfusion were also apparent at a later time. Typical characteristics of intracerebral haemorrhage at acute and chronic stages were also visualized up to one month. Two models of rodent spinal cord injury were adequately characterized and closely mimicked the results of histological studies. In the employed rodent animal handling system a mouse model of glioblastoma was also studied with unequivocal results.
Conclusions:
The implemented customizations including extensive sequence protocol modifications resulted in images of high diagnostic quality. These results prove that lack of dedicated animal scanners shouldn't discourage conventional small animal imaging studies.
Enormous amounts of data are being generated by modern methods such as transcriptome or exome sequencing and microarray profiling. Primary analyses such as quality control, normalization, statistics and mapping are highly complex and need to be performed by specialists. Thereafter, results are handed back to biomedical researchers, who are then confronted with complicated data lists. For rather simple tasks like data filtering, sorting and cross-association there is a need for new tools which can be used by non-specialists. Here, we describe CrossQuery, a web tool that enables straight forward, simple syntax queries to be executed on transcriptome sequencing and microarray datasets. We provide deep-sequencing data sets of stem cell lines derived from the model fish Medaka and microarray data of human endothelial cells. In the example datasets provided, mRNA expression levels, gene, transcript and sample identification numbers, GO-terms and gene descriptions can be freely correlated, filtered and sorted. Queries can be saved for later reuse and results can be exported to standard formats that allow copy-and-paste to all widespread data visualization tools such as Microsoft Excel. CrossQuery enables researchers to quickly and freely work with transcriptome and microarray data sets requiring only minimal computer skills. Furthermore, CrossQuery allows growing association of multiple datasets as long as at least one common point of correlated information, such as transcript identification numbers or GO-terms, is shared between samples. For advanced users, the object-oriented plug-in and event-driven code design of both server-side and client-side scripts allow easy addition of new features, data sources and data types.
Several studies report autoantibody signatures in cancer. The majority of these studies analyzed adult tumors and compared the seroreactivity pattern of tumor patients with the pattern in healthy controls. Here, we compared the autoimmune response in patients with neuroblastoma and patients with Wilms tumor representing two different childhood tumors. We were able to differentiate untreated neuroblastoma patients from untreated Wilms tumor patients with an accuracy of 86.8%, a sensitivity of 87.0% and a specificity of 86.7%. The separation of treated neuroblastoma patients from treated Wilms tumor patients' yielded comparable results with an accuracy of 83.8%. We furthermore identified the antigens that contribute most to the differentiation between both tumor types. The analysis of these antigens revealed that neuroblastoma was considerably more immunogenic than Wilms tumor. The reported antigens have not been found to be relevant for comparative analyses between other tumors and controls. In summary, neuroblastoma appears as a highly immunogenic tumor as demonstrated by the extended number of antigens that separate this tumor from Wilms tumor.
Here we describe a novel conditional mouse lung tumor model for investigation of the pathogenesis of human lung cancer. On the basis of the frequent involvement of the Ras-RAF-MEK-ERK signaling pathway in human non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), we have explored the target cell availability, reversibility, and cell type specificity of transformation by oncogenic C-RAF. Targeting expression to alveolar type II cells or to Clara cells, the two likely precursors of human NSCLC, revealed differential tumorigenicity between these cells. Whereas expression of oncogenic C-RAF in alveolar type II cells readily induced multifocal macroscopic lung tumors independent of the developmental state, few tumors with type II pneumocytes features and incomplete penetrance were found when targeted to Clara cells. Induced tumors did not progress and were strictly dependent on the initiating oncogene. Deinduction of mice resulted in tumor regression due to autophagy rather than apoptosis. Induction of autophagic cell death in regressing lung tumors suggests the use of autophagy enhancers as a treatment choice for patients with NSCLC.
Measuring and estimating biodiversity patterns is a fundamental task of the scientist working to support conservation and informmanagement decisions.Most biodiversity studies in temperate regions were often carried out over a very short period of time (e.g., a single season) and it is often—at least tacitly—assumed that these short-termfindings are representative of long-termgeneral patterns.However, should the studied biodiversity pattern in fact contain significant temporal dynamics, perhaps leading to contradictory conclusions. Here, we studied the seasonal diversity dynamics of arboreal spider communities dwelling in 216 European beeches (Fagus sylvatica L.) to assess the spider community composition in the following seasons: two cold seasons (I:November 2005–January 2006; II: February–April) and two warm seasons (III: May–July; IV: August–October). We show that the usually measured diversity of the warmseason community (IV: 58 estimated species) alone did not deliver a reliable image of the overall diversity present in these trees, and therefore, we recommend it should not be used for sampling protocols aimed at providing a full picture of a forest’s biodiversity in the temperate zones. In particular, when the additional samplings of other seasons (I, II, III) were included, the estimated species richness nearly doubled (108). Community I possessed the lowest diversity and evenness due to the harsh winter conditions: this community was comprised of one dominant species together with several species low in abundance. Similarity was lowest (38.6%) between seasonal communities I and III, indicating a significant species turnover due to recolonization, so that community III had the highest diversity. Finally, using nonparametric estimators, we found that further sampling in late winter (February–April) is most needed to complete our inventory. Our study clearly demonstrates that seasonal dynamics of communities should be taken into account when studying biodiversity patterns of spiders, and probably forest arthropods in general.
Background: Combination of oncolytic vaccinia virus therapy with conventional chemotherapy has shown promise for tumor therapy. However, side effects of chemotherapy including thrombocytopenia, still remain problematic. Methods: Here, we describe a novel approach to optimize combination therapy of oncolytic virus and chemotherapy utilizing virus-encoding hyper-IL-6, GLV-1h90, to reduce chemotherapy-associated side effects. Results: We showed that the hyper-IL-6 cytokine was successfully produced by GLV-1h90 and was functional both in cell culture as well as in tumor-bearing animals, in which the cytokine-producing vaccinia virus strain was well tolerated. When combined with the chemotherapeutic mitomycin C, the anti-tumor effect of the oncolytic virotherapy was significantly enhanced. Moreover, hyper-IL-6 expression greatly reduced the time interval during which the mice suffered from chemotherapy-induced thrombocytopenia. Conclusion: Therefore, future clinical application would benefit from careful investigation of additional cytokine treatment to reduce chemotherapy-induced side effects.
Oncolytic viruses refer to those that are able to eliminate malignancies by direct targeting and lysis of cancer cells, leaving non-cancerous tissues unharmed. Several oncolytic viruses including adenovirus strains, canine distemper virus and vaccinia virus strains have been used for canine cancer therapy in preclinical studies. However, in contrast to human studies, clinical trials with oncolytic viruses for canine cancer patients have not been reported. An ‘ideal’ virus has yet to be identified. This review is focused on the prospective use of oncolytic viruses in the treatment of canine tumors - a knowledge that will undoubtedly contribute to the development of oncolytic viral agents for canine cancer therapy in the future.