Abstract: Oncolytic adenovirus is a category of adenovirus which is reconstructed by genetic engineering. The adenovirus can infect and replicate in a selective and specifical manner until the tumor cell is destroyed, while it is harmless to normal cells during the process. A bulk of strategies, hitherto, have been attempted for improving the antitumor activity and safety of oncolytic adenovirus in treatment of cancer, including altering the way of transduction, utilizing tumor-specific promoter and enhancer control of the expression of therapeutic gene as well as combining with the radiotherapy, chemotherapy or immunotherapy for synergistic effect.

Key words: oncolytic adenovirus, target therapy, cancer