Gene therapy for cancer

The basic strategies for gene therapy that have been explored include immunogene therapy such as cytokine gene transfer, selective prodrug activation, so-called suicide genes, transfer of a tumor suppressor gene, and inhibition of activated oncogenes by antisense mechanisms. Many therapeutic protocols have so far been registered in the office of the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee, NIH, as of June 1999. Regarding the basic research in gene therapy, we planned a clinical application of gene therapy for an esophageal cancer patient at our institution. We review herein the present status of gene therapy for cancer overseas, and describe a protocol of clinical trials for gene therapy for esophageal cancer at our institution.