title: [Principles of gene therapy in tumors].
abstract: Gene therapy (GT) of cancer represents one of the most promising and exciting innovations in contemporary medicine. Several different strategies of GT of cancer have been developed. In spite of the rapid methodological progress their exploitation encounters a variety of problems. The most pertinent are associated with the use of vectors for gene transfer. Nowadays, virus-based vectors are preferred to the physical-chemical approaches. A special position in the methodology of cancer GT belongs to the so-called suicide genes. The expression of these genes in tumour cells results in their death provided they have been exposed to certain, originally innocuous substances. Combination of suicide genes with those coding for cytokines may eventually yield a very efficient means both for prevention and treatment of cancer. GT is connected with a number of considerable scientific, organizational and ethical problems. Coping with them requires extraordinary effort and well-organized and deliberate international cooperation.
authors.affiliation: Odd. experimentální virologie, Ustav hematologie a krevní transfuze, Praha.
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vonka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*
vernacular_title: Základy genové terapie nádorů.