Cytokine gene-modified vaccines in the therapy of cancer

Therapeutic strategies based on the insertion of cytokine genes into the genome of tumour cells, followed by vaccination with the resulting genetically modified, cytokine producing cells, represent a new potential prospect for treatment of cancer patients. In this review, the concept of cytokine gene modified cancer vaccines is discussed; the discussion is focused on the rationale, characterization, progress in the development, preclinical testing, and first clinical trials. An effort is made to analyse and integrate the results obtained in different experimental model systems in order to determine the needed approaches and directions for further research.