The herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase⁄ganciclovir (HSV-tk⁄GCV) sys-tem that selectively depletes cells expressing HSV-tk upon treatment with GCV has provided a valuable tool for developing a new animal model expressing the desired tissue damage. In this paper, an HSV-tk vector with an albumin promoter⁄enhancer was constructed. Based on the favourable killing effect on Hep-G2 cells by the recombinant construct, the HSV-tk transgenic mouse strains were developed.