The prior art largely suggests that immune competence in a cancer patient would destroy an antigenic viral vector before it transfects host cells with a transgene-rendering therapy futile. We surprisingly found the opposite is true: cancer patients with competent immune systems obtain the most therapeutic benefit from antigenic viral vector, apparently because the antigenic viral vector, apart from transfecting cells with a transgene, induces a humoral immune response, which in turn attacks cells bearing cancer antigen. Our new therapy works particularly well in combination with cytotoxic chemotherapeutic drugs.
