Novel approaches and limitations in viral gene therapy of cancer diseases

Gene therapy is a medical technique that involves modifying or manipulating a person’s genes to treat or prevent disease. It aims to correct defective genes responsible for disease development or to introduce new or modified genes to help fight illness. Viral gene therapy as delivering nucleic acids to cells to replace, repair, or regulate genes for treating or preventing diseases, specifically cancer diseases has exhibited potential therapeutic properties with related hindrances. This therapeutic strategy has garnered attention for its potential to treat conditions with few or no effective treatments. As one of the main obstacles in the application of viral vectors, producing these vectors on a large scale is not cost-effective. In this review, some of the recent advances and challenges in viral gene therapy, especially by Adenovirus, Adeno-associated virus (AAV), retroviral, lentiviral, and HSV vectors against various cancer diseases have been discussed.