title: Interferon gene therapy for the treatment of cancer and viral infections.
abstract: Interferons exhibit strong antiproliferative, antiviral and immunomodulatory properties. A combination of these properties makes them ideal candidates for the treatment of cancer and viral infections. However, their use as a protein therapeutic is limited due to their short serum half-life and certain undesirable side-effects. Some of these limitations are likely to be overcome by using interferons in a gene therapy modality. Gene therapy offers the advantage of generating higher sustained local concentration of this cytokine. In addition, it is possible to target the desired tissues and/or tumors by using specific promoters and to modulate the levels of the cytokine by using regulatable promoters. Results from studies in experimental tumor models of gene therapy for cancer and for certain viral infections have been encouraging and suggest that this may be a feasible and attractive alternative to interferon protein therapy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Cell Science, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida 32611-0700, USA. ahmed1@ufl.edu
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Iqbal Ahmed
authors.forename: Howard M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Johnson
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006801:Humans; D007372:Interferons / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy*
chemical_list: D007372:Interferons