Title:Mining the Adenovirus "Virome" for Systemic Oncolytics
Volume: 13
Issue: 9
Author(s): Michael A. Barry, Eric A. Weaver and Christopher Y. Chen
Affiliation:
Keywords:
Adenovirus, oncolytic, cancer, serotypes, liver damage, immunevasion, in vivo gene therapy, vector, serotypes
Abstract: Adenoviruses (Ads) are arguably one of the most potent viruses for in vivo gene therapy, vaccine, and oncolytic
applications. The attraction for the use of Ads stems from their ability to infect a wide range of dividing and non-dividing
cell types in some cases to efficiencies of nearly 100%. Additional benefits include their stability, the ability to purify the
vector to concentrations of up to 1013 particles/ml, and the fact that viral vectors self-assemble into particles of specific
size (~100 nm). The vast majority of clinical applications of Ad have utilized Ad serotype 5 (Ad5) viruses. Considering
that at least half of humans are already immune to Ad5, Ad5 oncolytics may not be optimal for clinical translation. Given
this and that there are 54 different serotypes of human Ads, this review considers the utility of "mining" these alternate Ad
serotypes for viruses that can evade Ad5 immunity and kill different types of cancer.
