Tropism and transduction of oncolytic adenovirus vectors in prostate cancer therapy

Oncolytic adenovirus has been applied in cancer therapy because of several advantages such as cost-effective production, high transduction efficiency and low toxicity. Recent efforts have been focused on the modification of oncolytic adenovirus by encoding transgenes within the viral genome to efficiently and selectively replicate within cancer cells, destroy cancerous cells, induce tumor cell apoptosis, and stimulate the recruitment of immune cells to the tumor site. Nevertheless, there are still big challenges for translational research of oncolytic virotherapy in clinical cancer management. Therefore, here we summarize current status on the design and application of oncolytic adenovirus vectors for prostate cancer therapy. In particular, we describe the main receptors associated with the tropism and transduction of oncolytic adenovirus vectors, and propose new directions in future studies for prostate cancer virotherapy.