mRZ-002

**mRZ-002** is a preclinical, mouse telomerase reverse transcriptase-targeting variant of Rznomics' RZ-002 adenoviral trans-splicing ribozyme platform. The adenoviral construct selectively recognizes endogenous mouse telomerase reverse transcriptase RNA in telomerase-positive tumor cells and replaces it with a chimeric transcript encoding herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase and a secreted single-chain variable fragment immune checkpoint inhibitor separated by a P2A sequence. This tumor-restricted dual-function gene therapy is designed to combine suicide-gene-mediated tumor cell killing with local checkpoint blockade, increasing antitumor T-cell activation and immune-cell infiltration while limiting systemic immune toxicity. In an orthotopic syngeneic mouse glioblastoma model, mRZ-002 showed greater antitumor activity than separate administration of mRZ-001 and an immune checkpoint inhibitor.