[Gene therapy for brain tumors].
Patients with glioma(which constitute 33% of all brain tumor cases) still have a poor prognosis, especially in the case of malignant(anaplastic astrocytoma and glioblastoma). This poor prognosis is related to the fact that malignant glioma cells aggressively infiltrate into normal brain tissues, making total removal of the tumor impossible. The median survival time of glioblastoma patients is less than 2 years, despite multimodality treatment with extensive surgical resection and adjuvant therapies using radiation and immunochemotherapy. In order to overcome this formidable neoplasm, the effectiveness of molecular neurosurgery using gene therapy has been investigated since 1992. In this paper, the current state of gene therapy for malignant brain tumors are described, and the future direction of this fascinating approach is discussed.
Mizuno
M
M
Department of Neurosurgery, Nagoya University School of Medicine.
Yoshida
J
J
D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics; D016147:Genes, Tumor Suppressor; D005814:Genes, Viral; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D005910:Glioma / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D018139:Simplexvirus / Q000235:genetics; D013937:Thymidine Kinase / Q000235:genetics
D016207:Cytokines; D013937:Thymidine Kinase