ABSTRACT
Recombinant adenoviruses can infect nondividing cells with high efficiency and are
rapidly concentrated in the liver after systemic administration, making them attractive
for use in liver-directed gene therapy. However, there are two hurdles to clinical
application of these vectors. First, adenoviruses are episomal and have limited life
spans within the cell. Second, host antiviral immune responses reduce the duration
of vector persistence and preclude long-term transgene expression by repeated injection
of the vector. Several strategies have been designed for abrogation of the specific
antiadenoviral immune responses by modification of the host immune system or alteration
of the vector. These strategies and the use of adenoviral vectors for the treatment
of hereditary, infectious, and malignant diseases of the liver are discussed in this
review.
KEY WORDS
adenoviral vectors - gene therapy - hereditary diseases - infectious diseases - hepatic
malignancies
