TARGETED TUMOR KILLING VIA AN INTRACELLULAR ANTIBODY AGAINST ERBB-2

Specific killing of erbB-2-overexpressing turner cells can be achieved using expression of an intracellular antibody directed against the er bB-2 oncoprotein. We have developed a strategy using a recombinant ade novirus encoding an anti-erbB-2 single chain antibody to achieve targe ted tumor cell killing in vivo and can show significantly prolonged su rvival of animals carrying a human ovarian carcinoma tumor burden with in their peritoneal cavities. This strategy of gene therapy for ovaria n carcinoma offers the potential to achieve highly specific, targeted killing of human tumor cells and thus establishes the rationale to und ertake human clinical trials on this basis.