title: Clostridia in cancer therapy.
abstract: During the past decade, the search for an effective system for the selective delivery of high therapeutic doses of anti-cancer agents to tumours has explored a variety of ingenious and increasingly complex biological systems. These systems are most often based on gene therapy and use viral vectors as the delivery vehicle. Invariably, such systems have been found wanting with respect to a lack of tumour specificity, poor levels of transgene expression and inefficient distribution of the vector throughout the tumour mass. By contrast, the ability of intravenously injected clostridial spores to infiltrate, then selectively germinate in, the hypoxic regions of solid tumours seems to be a totally natural phenomenon, which requires no fundamental alterations and is exquisitely specific.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Infections, Immunity and Inflammation, School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham, Floor C, West Block, Queens Medical Centre, Nottingham NG7 2UH, UK. nigel.minton@nottingham.ac.uk
authors.forename: Nigel P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Minton
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001388:Aziridines / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy; D003013:Clostridium / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development; D043525:Cytosine Deaminase / Q000235:genetics; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology / Q000628:therapy*; D009601:Nitroreductases / Q000235:genetics; D011355:Prodrugs / Q000627:therapeutic use; D013171:Spores, Bacterial; D044004:Xanthones / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000970:Antineoplastic Agents; D001388:Aziridines; D011355:Prodrugs; D044004:Xanthones; C066668:vadimezan; C100099:tretazicar; D009601:Nitroreductases; D043525:Cytosine Deaminase