Retrovirus-mediated gene transfer to tumors: utilizing the replicative power of viruses to achieve highly efficient tumor transduction in vivo.

Vectors derived from retroviruses have been widely studied as tools for gene transfer into mammalian tissue in vivo. One application for which retroviral vectors have received particular attention is gene transfer into tumor cells for treatment of cancer. Simple retroviruses, such as murine leukemia virus (MLV), and the vectors derived from them, require cell division for infection and thus possess a degree of inherent specificity for the rapidly dividing cells of neoplastic tissue. This unique property and the ease with which retroviral vectors are manipulated and produced have provided much of the impetus for their use in experimental and clinical cancer gene-therapy studies.