Combined gene therapy and ionizing radiation is a novel approach to treat human esophageal adenocarcinoma

Background The ability to infect tumor cells limits the antitumor effects of gene therapy. The addition of radiotherapy to treatment with Ad.Egr.TNF.11D, a replication-deficient adenovirus containing a radiation-inducible promoter, early growth response-1, and the tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) complementary DNA may enhance the therapeutic ratio.