Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: gene therapy approaches to cancer
- 2 Principles of transformation-directed cancer therapy
- 3 Vectors for cancer gene therapy
- 4 Genetically engineering drug sensitivity and drug resistance for the treatment of cancer
- 5 Oncogene inactivation and replacement strategies for cancer
- 6 Genetically modified tumor cells as tumor vaccines
- 7 Genetically modified lymphocytes and hematopoietic stem cells as therapeutic vehicles
- 8 Pharmacologic effects of oligonucleotides and some clinical applications
- 9 Current status of gene marking and gene therapy in oncology clinical trials
- 10 Safety testing for gene therapy products
- Index
Preface
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 April 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Contributors
- Preface
- 1 Introduction: gene therapy approaches to cancer
- 2 Principles of transformation-directed cancer therapy
- 3 Vectors for cancer gene therapy
- 4 Genetically engineering drug sensitivity and drug resistance for the treatment of cancer
- 5 Oncogene inactivation and replacement strategies for cancer
- 6 Genetically modified tumor cells as tumor vaccines
- 7 Genetically modified lymphocytes and hematopoietic stem cells as therapeutic vehicles
- 8 Pharmacologic effects of oligonucleotides and some clinical applications
- 9 Current status of gene marking and gene therapy in oncology clinical trials
- 10 Safety testing for gene therapy products
- Index
Summary
Cancer is now the biggest target disease for gene therapy protocols worldwide. Despite significant advances in the treatment of cancer in the last two decades, most tumors remain resistant to all current treatment modalities – surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, and biotherapy. Local methods such as surgery and radiotherapy are often only effective in the absence of metastatic disease. Despite tremendous effort over the last fifty years, only a very small proportion of human cancers are cured by chemotherapy.
Gene-based therapy is a novel therapeutic approach to treating cancer which has been made possible only by recent and remarkable progress in our understanding of the molecular biology of cancer. Gene therapy can be described as the transfer to human cells and the expression of genetic material for a therapeutic purpose. Currently there are over two hundred gene therapy protocols active worldwide specifically aimed at single gene defects such as cystic fibrosis and a growing number of cancers. This book outlines the diverse approaches being attempted to develop effective future cancer therapies.
The last decade has seen dramatic advances in our understanding of the mechanisms involved in the control of cell growth and their deregulation in cancer. Certain classes of genes encode proteins that play distinct roles in the processing of signals from the outside of the cell to the nucleus. Any changes to the delicate system of control by these oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes may result in the formation of cancer.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Gene Therapy in the Treatment of CancerProgress and Prospects, pp. xi - xiiPublisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1998