Gene delivery to the lung

Abstract

The lung is one of the most important target organs for gene therapy because there are many genetic and acquired lung diseases, for which there are no effective treatment protocols. In particular, clinical trials of gene therapy for cystic fibrosis, α-1-antitrypsin deficiency and lung cancer are being carried out. This reason is that the mechanism of these diseases is comparatively clear and therapeutic effect is hoped to be obtained by single gene administration. The lung is non-invasively accessible through the vasculature and airways, and therefore, the realization of gene therapy will be achieved by the development of more suitable gene delivery system for individual lung diseases in the near future. In this article, we collect the information of therapeutic gene and target cells for lung diseases and structure of lung from the point of view of gene delivery. Additively, current status of gene delivery technology to the lung is reviewed. © 2008, THE JAPAN SOCIETY OF DRUG DELIVERY SYSTEM. All rights reserved.