GM-CSF-armed, replication-competent viruses for cancer

Monoclonal antibody therapy for cancer has significantly altered the natural history of several common cancers. This success was attained only after many years of failure to understand the technical limitations of antibody therapy. In order to further exploit the immune system, tumor vaccine strategies are an active research focus. Virus based immune agents including GM-CSF armed vectors are among these early efforts. Herpes, adenovirus, and vaccinia based vectors encoding GM-CSF have reported intriguing early clinical trial results that are reviewed here.