The 11th International Oncolytic Virus Conference (IOVC) was held from April 9-12, 2018 in Oxford, UK. This is part of the high-profile academic-led series of meetings that was started back in 2002 by Steve Russell and John Bell, with most of the previous meetings being held in North America (often in Banff). The conference brought together many of the major players in oncolytic virotherapy from all over the world, addressing all stages of research and development-from aspects of basic science and cellular immunology all the way through to early- and late-phase clinical trials. The meeting welcomed 352 delegates from 24 countries. The top seven delegate countries, namely, the UK, US, Canada, The Netherlands, Germany, Japan and South Korea, contributed 291 delegates while smaller numbers coming from Australia, Austria, Bulgaria, China, Finland, France, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Malaysia, Poland, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland. Academics comprised about half of the attendees, industry 30% and students 20%. The next IOVC is scheduled to be held on Vancouver Island in autumn 2019. Here we share brief summaries of the oral presentations from invited speakers and proffered papers in the different subtopics presented at IOVC 2018.
Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is an avian virus that causes deadly infection to over 250 species of birds, including domestic and wild-type, thus resulting in substantial losses to the poultry industry worldwide. Many reports have demonstrated the oncolytic effect of NDV towards human tumor cells. The interesting aspect of NDV is its ability to selectively replicate in cancer cells. Some of the studies have undergone human clinical trials, and favorable results were obtained. Therefore, NDV strains can be the potential therapeutic agent in cancer therapy. However, investigation on the therapeutic perspectives of NDV, especially human immunological effects, is still ongoing. This paper provides an overview of the current studies on the cytotoxic and anticancer effect of NDV via direct oncolysis effects or immune stimulation. Safety of NDV strains applied for cancer immunotherapy is also discussed in this paper.