Gene Therapy of Cancer

Since the discovery of the molecular structure of genes and the unveiling of the molecular basis of numerous human diseases, scientists have been fas- nated with the possibility of treating certain diseases by transducing foreign DNA into the affected cells. Initially, it was proposed that the foreign DNA could either replace defective nonfunctional genes, or code for therapeutic proteins. This concept has evolved into the rapidly growing field of gene therapy. Even though surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are widely ava- able and routinely used for cancer treatment, these therapies fail to cure approximately 50 percent of cancer patients. Therefore, since it is a disease characterized by aberrant gene expression, cancer has been a target of gene therapy research since the inception of this treatment modality. Numerous cancer gene therapy strategies are currently being investigated, including gene replacement therapy, the regulation of gene expression to modulate immu- logical responses to tumors, the direct killing of tumor cells, and direct int- ference with tumor growth. In this context, gene transfer systems, tumor-specific expression vectors, and novel therapeutic genes have been extensively st- ied. All these strategies aim for the selective destruction of human malignant disease while circumventing the destruction of nonmalignant cells and tissues thereby minimizing toxicity to the patient.

In Gene Therapy of Cancer: Methods and Protocols, Wolfgang Walther and Ulrike Stein survey the rapidly evolving field cancer gene therapy and provide a broad array of leading-edge protocols for the delivery of therapeutic genes into tumors. Described in step-by-step fashion and enriched with each author's own practical tips, these readily reproducible methods are currently being widely applied in cancer gene therapy investigations, including immunotherapy and tumor vaccination, suicide gene therapy, antioncogene therapy, and antisense and ribozyme gene therapy. Representative strategies are provided for gene targeting and for viral or nonviral gene delivery in cancer therapy, as well as a significant number of clinical protocols for the development of novel cancer gene therapies.
Gene Therapy of Cancer: Methods and Protocols offers basic and clinical researchers a broad ranging overview and collection of the most recent advances in gene transfer techniques. Written by leading international authorities, its readily reproducible, cutting-edge methods constitute today's most valuable tools for the study of cancer gene therapy in both the laboratory and clinical trials.