Fighting cancer with viruses

One of the most promising strategies to treat cancer is attacking it with viruses. Viruses can kill tumor cells specifically or act as carriers that deliver normal genes into cancer cells. A model for virotherapy of cancer is investigated and its predictions are in agreement with results obtained from experimental tumors. Furthermore, the model reveals an oscillatory (periodic or aperiodic) response of tumor cells and virus populations which may make clinical prognosis difficult. These results suggest the need for new in vivo and in vitro experiments aiming to detect this oscillatory response.