title: Gene Therapies for Cancer: Strategies, Challenges and Successes.
abstract: Gene therapy, which involves replacement of a defective gene with a functional, healthy copy of that gene, is a potentially beneficial cancer treatment approach particularly over chemotherapy, which often lacks selectivity and can cause non-specific toxicity. Despite significant progress pre-clinically with respect to both enhanced targeting and expression in a tumor-selective manner several hurdles still prevent success in the clinic, including non-specific expression, low-efficiency delivery and biosafety. Various innovative genetic approaches are under development to reconstruct vectors/transgenes to make them safer and more effective. Utilizing cutting-edge delivery technologies, gene expression can now be targeted in a tissue- and organ-specific manner. With these advances, gene therapy is poised to become amenable for routine cancer therapy with potential to elevate this methodology as a first line therapy for neoplastic diseases. This review discusses recent advances in gene therapy and their impact on a pre-clinical and clinical level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
authors.forename: Swadesh K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Das
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
authors.forename: Mitchell E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Menezes
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
authors.forename: Shilpa
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
authors.forename: Xiang-Yang
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
authors.forename: Luni
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Emdad
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
authors.forename: Devanand
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Sarkar
authors.affiliation: Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Institute of Molecular Medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.|VCU Massey Cancer Center, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia.
authors.forename: Paul B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D015316:Genetic Therapy / Q000379:methods; D005822:Genetic Vectors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000628:therapy*; D019076:Transgenes / Q000235:genetics*