[Hope for gene therapy. Is this the future of tumor treatment?].
Conventional antineoplastic chemotherapy is limited by the low binding specificity of cytostatic agents and the ubiquity of critical target molecules in both neoplastic and normal cells. Recent advances in molecular biology have led to the identification of ever more genetic alterations specific to tumor cells that may serve as targets for gene therapy. Since appropriately designed nucleic acids hybridize to their "target nucleic acid" with extremely high binding specificity, and can be prepared with relative ease, gene therapy is theoretically superior to conventional chemotherapy. However, the low efficacy of currently available gene transfer technologies, the redundancy of genetic control mechanisms, and, for example under antitumor treatment, the multitude of genetic alterations accumulating during tumor progression represent significant problems. With the exception of monogenic disease, therefore, most clinical studies have so far demonstrated the feasibility of gene therapy, rather than its therapeutic efficacy. Ethical considerations rule out germline therapy. In comparison with conventional treatment, the assessment of the risks of this form of therapy should include a consideration of irreversible and reversible damage.
Moritz
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T
Medizinische Klinik IV, Universitätsklinikum, RWTH Aachen.
Efferth
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T
Osieka
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R
D000818:Animals; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005544:Forecasting; D018014:Gene Transfer Techniques; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000639:trends*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D012307:Risk Factors