Potential applications of gene therapy/transfer to the treatment of lower urinary tract diseases/disorders

Abstract

Identification of molecular targets for novel therapeutics is a natural consequence of the age of molecular and personalized medicine. How this information is leveraged and applied to the treatment of functional diseases/disorders of the lower urinary tract will determine if this field of medicine can keep pace with technological developments and patient expectations for improved therapies. In this regard, therapeutic improvements for the treatment of lower urinary tract diseases and disorders have been largely incremental over the past 30 years. The goal of this report is to review the evidence pointing toward the enormous potential of gene therapy/transfer to provide a paradigm shift from palliative to curative therapeutic solutions for lower urinary tract diseases/disorders. In fact, it seems clear that gene therapy represents a biotechnology approach particularly suitable to applications in the lower urinary tract. Although much more research is required, ample preclinical evidence already indicates that, for example, gene therapy can favorably impact/ alter virtually every aspect of bladder physiology/function. In short, further investigations and continued applications of gene therapy to the treatment of lower urinary tract diseases/disorders seems a prudent step toward potentially marked and more durable therapeutic improvements. © 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.