title: The evolution of adenoviral vectors through genetic and chemical surface modifications.
abstract: A long time has passed since the first clinical trial with adenoviral (Ad) vectors. Despite being very promising, Ad vectors soon revealed their limitations in human clinical trials. The pre-existing immunity, the marked liver tropism and the high toxicity of first generation Ad (FG-Ad) vectors have been the main challenges for the development of new approaches. Significant effort toward the development of genetically and chemically modified adenoviral vectors has enabled researchers to create more sophisticated vectors for gene therapy, with an improved safety profile and a higher transduction ability of different tissues. In this review, we will describe the latest findings in the high-speed, evolving field of genetic and chemical modifications of adenoviral vectors, a field in which different disciplines, such as biomaterial research, virology and immunology, co-operate synergistically to create better gene therapy tools for modern challenges.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy, Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences and CDR, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Biocenter 2, Viikinkaari 5, Helsinki 00790, Finland. cristian.capasso@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Cristian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Capasso
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Medicine and Medical Biotechnology, University of Naples "Federico II", Via S.Pansini 5, Naples 80131, Italy. mariangela.garofalo@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Mariangela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Garofalo
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy, Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences and CDR, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Biocenter 2, Viikinkaari 5, Helsinki 00790, Finland. mari.hirvinen@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hirvinen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Immunovirotherapy, Division of Pharmaceutical Biosciences and CDR, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Biocenter 2, Viikinkaari 5, Helsinki 00790, Finland. vincenzo.cerullo@helsinki.fi.
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cerullo
mesh_terms: D000260:Adenoviruses, Human / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D005818:Genetic Engineering / Q000379:methods*; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods*; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans