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Therapeutic genes for cancer gene therapy

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Abstract

Cancer still represents a disease of high incidence and is therefore one major target for gene therapy approaches. Gene therapy for cancer implies that ideally selective tumor cell killing or inhibition of tumor cell growth can be achieved using nucleic acids (DNA and RNA) as the therapeutic agent. Therefore, the majority of cancer gene therapy strategies introduce foreign genes into tumor cells which aim at the immunological recognition and destruction, the direct killing of the target cells or the interference with tumor growth. To achieve this goal for gene therapy of cancer, a broad variety of therapeutic genes are currently under investigation in preclinical and in clinical studies. These genes are of very different origin and of different mechanisms of action, such as human cytokine genes, genes coding for immunstimulatory molecules/antigens, genes encoding bacterial or viral prodrug-activating enzymes (suicide genes), tumor suppressor genes, or multidrug resistance genes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Surgery & Surgical Oncology, Max-Delbrück-Center for Molecular Medicine, Robert-Rössle-St. 10, 13092, Berlin, Germany

    Wolfgang Walther

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  1. Wolfgang Walther
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  2. Ulrike Stein
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Correspondence to Wolfgang Walther.

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Walther, W., Stein, U. Therapeutic genes for cancer gene therapy. Mol Biotechnol 13, 21–28 (1999). https://doi.org/10.1385/MB:13:1:21

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