Oncolytic Virotherapy and Intratumoral Immunotherapy in Skin Cancer

The landscape of cancer immunotherapy is rapidly evolving, with oncolytic viruses emerging as powerful tools to selectively target tumors and stimulate robust local immune responses. Intratumoral immunotherapy, involving the direct administration of immune modulators into the tumor microenvironment, represents a transformative strategy to convert immune “cold” tumors into “hot” ones, priming both local and systemic anti-tumor immunity. These innovative therapies are especially relevant in skin cancers, such as melanoma and cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, which are highly accessible for local intervention and serve as key models for translational research.Despite the approval and increasing use of oncolytic viruses and various local immunotherapies, major questions remain about how best to combine or sequence these agents to maximize effectiveness. Key challenges include the development of next-generation delivery platforms, optimization of agent combinations, and deeper mechanistic insight into how locally delivered therapies, as opposed to systemic ones, modulate the tumor and shape long-term immune outcomes. Addressing these challenges in skin cancer has the potential to further improve patient outcomes and set new standards for local immunotherapy in oncology. This Research Topic seeks to accelerate translational research at the intersection of these approaches, focusing on innovative integrations of oncolytic virotherapy with additional intratumoral immunotherapies and on advancing new delivery technologies and mechanistic understanding that bridge laboratory and clinical practice, with a focus on skin malignancies.We invite original research, translational studies, comprehensive and mini-reviews, perspectives, and clinical case series that specifically address, but are not limited to:• Engineering and mechanistic studies of oncolytic viruses in combination with other locally delivered or intratumoral immunotherapies, with special interest in skin cancer applications.• Development and testing of novel intratumoral delivery platforms for melanoma and other skin tumors.• Mechanistic comparisons of local vs systemic delivery, including studies in cutaneous oncology.• Biomarker discovery and immune monitoring unique to combination intratumoral strategies in skin cancer.• Translational or early-phase clinical studies of integrative, locally delivered immunotherapy regimens involving OVs and emerging immunomodulators, with outcomes in skin cancer patients.• In situ vaccination and local tumor microenvironment remodeling with multi-agent approaches.We encourage contributions on the next era of precision local immunotherapy within skin cancer, especially melanoma, cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma, Merkel cell carcinoma, and rare skin malignancies, are strongly encouraged. Help us define innovative, patient-tailored strategies for cancer treatment by contributing cutting-edge work to this dynamic collection.Please note: manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent clinical or patient cohort, or biological validation in vitro or in vivo, which are not based on public databases) are not suitable for publication in this journal. Topic editors: Mohammed Milhem, Varun Monga Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/79504/oncolytic-virotherapy-and-intratumoral-immunotherapy-in-skin-cancer