Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most common primary malignant tumor of the adult central nervous system. Despite recent advances in therapy, the median survival rate remains measured in months rather than years. The recurrent nature of the disease has prevented the development of effective long-term therapies. Oncolytic viruses that are replication competent in tumors, but not in normal cells, represent a novel approach for treating neoplastic diseases. The goal of this project is to develop a virus that utilizes a glioma specific promoter and binds to a receptor that is over-expressed on malignant brain tumors. Preliminary data suggest that a replication defective form of the adenovirus shows significantly greater transgene expression that a wild-type virus. We therefore propose to create a novel oncolytic vector that utilizes transductional and transcriptional control to assess efficacy against malignant glioma in vitro and in vivo.

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