Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC), the intra-abdominal dissemination of malignancy, is equated with a 5-year survival of 15%, depending on the source. Appendiceal PC is a challenge to treat as cancer cells are embedded in copious amounts of mucin and are difficult to target. Oncolytic viruses (OVs) preferentially replicate and lyse cancer cells and present a targeted, novel strategy for PC. The hypothesis of this study is that appendiceal PC will show variable susceptibility to OVs and that protein expression in these tumours will predict OV replication efficiency. Human appendiceal PC infected ex-vivo with 4 different OVs displayed variable infectivity and replication by fluorescence microscopy and plaque assay. Immunohistochemistry analysis revealed differential expression of IRF3, pERK and TK in tumour compared to normal appendix. No correlation of protein expression with viral replication was observed. Personalizing OV therapy will be critical in the optimization of future care of patients treated with this modality.

Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC), the intra-abdominal dissemination of malignancy, is equated with a 5-year survival of 15%, depending on the source. Appendiceal PC is a challenge to treat as cancer cells are embedded in copious amounts of mucin and are difficult to target. Oncolytic viruses (OVs) preferentially replicate and lyse cancer cells and present a targeted, novel strategy for PC. The hypothesis of this study is that appendiceal PC will show variable susceptibility to OVs and that protein expression in these tumours will predict OV replication efficiency. Human appendiceal PC infected ex-vivo with 4 different OVs displayed variable infectivity and replication by fluorescence microscopy and plaque assay. Immunohistochemistry analysis revealed differential expression of IRF3, pERK and TK in tumour compared to normal appendix. No correlation of protein expression with viral replication was observed. Personalizing OV therapy will be critical in the optimization of future care of patients treated with this modality.