The present and future for gene and viral therapy of directly accessible prostate and squamous cell cancers of the head and neck

Abstract

Gene therapy has been in a continuous evolutionary process since the first approved trial occurred in 1990 at the National Institute of Health. In the USA, as of March 2004, there were 619 approved gene therapy/transfer protocols and 405 of these were for cancer treatment. Another 294 trials are in progress worldwide, with most concentrated in Europe. However, cancer gene therapy is in its relative infancy when compared with the well-established use of chemo-radiotherapy for treating cancer. As the field develops it is becoming clear that using gene therapy in conjunction with established chemo-radiotherapy approaches is yielding the best results. This concept shall be reviewed in the context of the status of the field, and a future direction based on a combination of gene therapy with small molecule modification of sphingolipid metabolism shall be discussed. © 2005 Future Medicine Ltd.