The Ad5/11 chimeric oncolytic adenovirus represents a promising new platform for anticancer therapy. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous clonal disorder of hematopoietic progenitor cells and is the most common malignant myeloid disorder in adults. Myeloid and other hematopoietic cell lineages are involved in the process of clonal proliferation and differentiation. In the present study, we aimed to ascertain whether chimeric oncolytic adenovirus-mediated transfer of the human interleukin-24 (IL-24) gene induces enhanced antitumor potency. Our results showed that the Ad5/11 chimeric oncolytic adenovirus carrying hIL-24 (AdCN205‑11-IL-24) produced high levels of hIL-24 in AML cancer cells, as compared with the Ad5 oncolytic adenovirus expressing hIL-24 (AdCN205-IL-24). AdCN205-11-IL-24 specifically induced a cytotoxic effect on AML cancer cells, but had little or no effect on a normal cell line. AdCN205-11-IL-24 induced higher antitumor activity in AML cancer cells by inducing apoptosis in vitro. This study suggests that transfer of IL-24 by an Ad5/11 chimeric oncolytic adenovirus may be a potent antitumor approach for AML cancer therapy.