title: Lentiviral vector-based therapy in head and neck cancer (Review).
abstract: Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most common neoplasm worldwide. Despite advances in multimodality treatments involving surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, the five-year survival rate has remained at ~50% for the past 35 years. Therefore, the early detection of recurrent or persistent disease is extremely important. Replication-incompetent HIV-1-based lentiviral vectors have emerged as powerful and safe tools for gene delivery. Commonly, HNSCC is a locoregional disease that presents at or close to the body surface. Thus, HNSCC is amendable to intratumoral injections of gene therapy vectors aimed at correcting defects associated with tumor suppressor genes to induce the direct cytotoxicity of cancer cells or immune modulation to promote antitumor immunity. Current investigations analyzing HNSCC gene mutations and stem cell markers and the cancer immunoediting concept are creating exciting therapeutic opportunities for lentiviral and other gene transfer vectors. The present review reports specific examples of the current applications of lentiviral vectors in HNSCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0T5, Canada.
authors.forename: Deepak
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Upreti
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0T5, Canada.
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pathak
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB R3E 0T5, Canada.
authors.forename: Sam K P
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Kung
keywords: head and neck cancers; immunotherapy; lentiviral vectors