Local delivery of a viral vector mitigates neutralization by antiviral antibodies and results in efficient transduction of rabbit liver.

Antiviral antibodies within the human population remain a barrier to the effective clinical use of viral gene transfer vectors. We have asked whether local, balloon catheter-mediated delivery of a viral vector to the rabbit liver using a hepatic vein might mitigate the neutralizing effects of antiviral antibodies. We have compared directly the ability of adenovirus (Ad2) encoding nuclear-localized beta-galactosidase to infect the rabbit liver after local and systemic delivery in both the presence and the absence of defined anti-Ad2 antibody titers.