MOLECULAR APPROACHES TO CANCER-THERAPY

This chapter discusses the proposed molecular approaches to cancer therapy. Cancer arises as a series of molecular alterations that converge to give the cell malignant properties. The genes closely associated with the development of cancer encode products whose activities are easily reconciled with the malignant phenotype of cancer cells. The ability to characterize tumors at the molecular level and to use modern biological and chemical technologies to identify and develop novel molecules of therapeutic potential has opened several possible avenues for the development of new therapeutic modalities. The molecular approaches used are novel antineoplastic agents, modern immunotherapy, and the therapeutic repair of oncogenic genetic lesions. Most antineoplastic agents interact with DNA in a manner that inhibits the replication of the tumor cell genome. Modern immunotherapy for cancer or biologic therapy has both active and passive approaches. Drugs that target specific molecules and gene therapy are divergent approaches to the treatment of cancer. Gene therapy involves the introduction of new genetic information into cells. Gene therapy offers the possibility for novel approaches to the development of tumor vaccines. © 1993, Academic Press Inc.