Methods for Modification of Therapeutic Viruses

Abstract

The optimal clinical exploitation of viruses as gene therapy or oncolytic vectors will require them to be administered intravenously. Strategies must therefore be deployed to enable viruses to survive the harsh neutralizing environment of the bloodstream and achieve deposition within and throughout target tissues or tumor deposits. This chapter describes the genetic and chemical engineering approaches that are being developed to overcome these challenges.

Keywords: Adenovirus; Capsid chemical modification; Capsid engineering; Capsid surface modification; Oncolytic virus; PEGylation; Polymer coating; Polymer shielding; Polymer stealthing.