| abstract |
The invention relates to compositions and methods for cancer cell detection in bodily samples wherein a cancer cell can be detected within a mixed population of cancer cells and non-cancer cells. The invention also relates to compositions and methods that may be used in cancer cell detection, specifically viruses that are replication-competent conditional to a cancer cell, in particular an oncolytic herpes virus, such as NV 1066 and a vaccinia virus, such as GLV-lh68. Provided are methods and kits for using these viruses that preferentially replicate in cancer cells and may also preferentially infect cancer cells for specific identification of such cancer cells, even when a cancer cell is present, for example, at a ratio of one infected cancer cell in a background often thousand non-cancer cells, thus further providing a reproducible and sensitive screening method for cancer detection, monitoring and prognosis. |