Oncosuppressive Effects of Natural and Recombinant Parvoviruses

The infection of animals with certain autonomous parvoviruses has been shown to have an onco-sup-pressive effect, whilst the viruses themselves have a preferred tropism for transformed cells (oncotropism). However, in many instances, the level of this response is not sufficient for complete suppression of tumorigenesis. Our goal is to enhance the antitumor potential by combining both the intrinsic oncosuppressive and oncotropic determinants of the virus with an additional therapeutic gene in a recombinant parvoviral vector.