Frederick Lang

Frederick Lang has been a leader in clinical development of herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase (HSV-TK) suicide gene therapy for glioblastoma, conducting clinical trials demonstrating that adenoviral delivery of HSV-TK followed by ganciclovir prodrug administration can achieve tumor cell killing with bystander effects that extend beyond directly transduced cells. His work on oncolytic virus strategies for brain tumors has integrated gene therapy with immune activation, showing that virus-mediated tumor cell lysis releases tumor antigens that stimulate anti-tumor immunity. He has advanced combination approaches using HSV-TK with immune checkpoint inhibitors. His clinical trials have established the safety and feasibility of gene therapy in the central nervous system.