A weapon against cancer
- An 'Oncolytic’ (cancer killing) adenovirus is being developed to selectively infect and kill cancer cells!
- Unlike most gene therapy vectors, this virus is equipped to make copies of itself in infected cancer cells and destroy them.
- By deleting adenovirus genes required for replication in normal cells, this oncolytic virus is made tumour-specific!
This is one example of how researchers are taking advantage of adenovirus to treat disease.
Adenoviral vectors:
- Effective and efficient short-term and immunogenic expression.
- Relatively large gene capacity.
- Easy to produce high quantities.
Click here to discover how an adenoviral vector is used to vaccinate against COVID-19!
Other viral vectors are also being used or developed to treat disease:
Find out more about the work of the Gill Hyde Gene Medicine research group at the University of Oxford.