Patent ID: 8257692

Claim:
A method for treating a human cancer patient comprising: (a) administering to the patient a recombinant modified vaccinia virus Ankara (MVA) expression vector comprising a promoter operably-linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO:1, wherein the polypeptide retains cytosine deaminase activity but does not retain uracil phosphoribosyltransferase activity as compared to a polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 in which the Ser residue in position 183 is substituted with an Arg residue; and (b) administering to the patient a tumoricidal dose of a prodrug selected from the group consisting of a cytosine analog and 5-fluorocytosine (5-FC), wherein administration of the MVA comprising SEQ ID NO:1 is superior to treatment with the polypeptide comprising the amino acid sequence of SEQ ID NO:1 in which the Ser residue in position 183 is substituted with an Arg residue to inhibit tumor growth.