[Future prospect of gene therapy for hereditary tumor].
Gene therapy for hereditary tumor was discussed in two aspects: preventive and therapeutic approaches. A practical approach to prevention is the transfection of a wild type gene into presymptomatic lesions or normal tissue which may potentially give rise to malignant tumor. Preliminary trials of this approach have already been reported by several investigators. Therapeutic approach is much more difficult since metastasis generally occurs simultaneously at multiple sites and no appropriate delivery system for transgenes to target multiple lesions has been so far developed. We have most recently established a method by which transgenes can be specifically delivered to multiple-metastasized tumors via transferrin receptor and found this method to have successful therapeutic effects. The future direction of gene therapy for hereditary tumor was also addressed.
Niitsu
Y
Y
4th Department of Internal Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, School of Medicine.
Kogawa
K
K
D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis / Q000628:therapy; D009386:Neoplastic Syndromes, Hereditary / Q000235:genetics* / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000628:therapy*; D011990:Receptors, Transferrin; D014162:Transfection; D019076:Transgenes
D011990:Receptors, Transferrin