882. Development of a Transposon-Based Approach to Identification of Novel Transgene Insertion Sites within Replicating Viral Genomes

Abstract

Oncolytic viruses represent a potentially new treatment for cancer. It is clear, however, that the potency of these agents must be increased, and one approach is to incorporate therapeutic genes that synergise with the lytic functions of the virus. For Ad5, the choice of insertion site(s) is generally limited to a few known non-essential regions for viral DNA replication. Additional less well characterized replication-competent viruses are being developed for cancer therapies, and in these cases extensive research will be needed to characterize insertion sites that are compatible with optimal viral replication. Consequently, we have developed a technology that enables a non-prejudiced scanning of entire viral genomes to identify sites for insertions of transgene expression cassettes without affecting viral replication.