Department of Molecular Cell Biology, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands.
Rev Med Virol. 2011 Jul;21(4):227-39. doi: 10.1002/rmv.694. Epub 2011 May 11.
Viruses usually infect a restricted set of host species, and only in rare cases does productive infection occur outside the natural host range. Infection of a new host species can manifest as a distinct disease. In this respect, the use of non-human viruses in clinical therapy may be a cause for concern. It could provide the opportunity for the viruses to adapt to the new host and be transferred to the recipient's relatives or medical caretakers, or even to the normal host species. Such environmental impact is evidently undesirable. To forecast future clinical use of non-human viruses, a literature study was performed to identify the viruses that are being considered for application as therapeutic agents for use in humans. Twenty-seven non-human virus species were identified that are in (pre)clinical development, mainly as oncolytic agents. For risk management, it is essential that the potential environmental consequences are assessed before initiating clinical use, even if the virus is not formally classified as a genetically modified organism. To aid such assessment, each of these viruses was classified in one of five relative environmental risk categories, ranging from "Negligible" to "Very High". Canary pox virus and the Autographa californica baculovirus were assigned a "Negligible" classification, and Seneca Valley virus, murine leukemia virus, and Maraba virus to the "High" category. A complicating factor in the classification is the scarcity of publicly available information on key aspects of virus biology in some species. In such cases the relative environmental risk score was increased as a precaution.
病毒通常感染特定的宿主物种，只有在极少数情况下，才会在自然宿主范围之外发生有生产力的感染。感染新的宿主物种可能表现为明显的疾病。在这方面，非人类病毒在临床治疗中的使用可能令人担忧。它为病毒提供了适应新宿主并转移到受者的亲属或医疗护理人员，甚至转移到正常宿主物种的机会。这种环境影响显然是不可取的。为了预测非人类病毒在未来的临床应用，进行了文献研究，以确定正在考虑将其作为治疗剂应用于人类的病毒。确定了 27 种处于（临床前）临床开发阶段的非人类病毒，主要作为溶瘤剂。为了进行风险管理，在开始临床应用之前，必须评估潜在的环境后果，即使该病毒未被正式归类为基因修饰生物体。为了帮助进行这种评估，将这些病毒中的每一种都归类为五个相对环境风险类别之一，从“微不足道”到“非常高”。金丝雀痘病毒和美洲棉铃虫杆状病毒被归类为“微不足道”，塞内卡谷病毒、鼠白血病病毒和马拉开波病毒被归类为“高”。在分类中，一个复杂的因素是，某些物种的病毒生物学关键方面的公开信息稀缺。在这种情况下，作为预防措施，相对环境风险评分会增加。
