Abstract
Malignant primary and metastatic brain tumors have remained fatal in spite of major advances in diagnostic tools and the improvement of conventional therapies. Recent discoveries in the molecular basis of the disease have allowed increased understanding of the events that lead to the development of brain tumors and have also brought a new spectrum of alternatives for treatment. By using gene therapy, brain tumors can be treated by targeting their fundamental molecular defects, delivering gene-drugs to the malignant cells. The possible targets for this type of treatment are progressively increasing but abundant clinical success has yet to be obtained, in part due to imperfect delivery systems. In this review, the genetic fundamentals of various cerebral neoplasms and neurogenetic syndromes, different strategies used for gene therapy, various available DNA delivery systems, status of ongoing clinical trials, and possible prospects for the future are discussed.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 685-701 |
Number of pages | 17 |
Journal | Expert Review of Neurotherapeutics |
Volume | 3 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Sep 2003 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The authors found the following Internet websites very useful in providing useful and accurate information about neuro-oncological applications for gene therapy. www.clinicaltrials.gov (Accessed June 2003). A website pro-vided by the National Institutes of Health and maintained by the National Library of Medicine listing all active clinical research studies. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryfcgi (Accessed June 2003). This Pubmed website, maintained by the National Library of Medicine, provides a database search for over 12 million MEDLINE citations from all the major medical journals dat-ing back to the 1960s. www.nci.nih.gov (Cancer.gov) (Accessed June 2003). The
Funding Information:
www.nabtt.org (Accessed June 2003). The official website for the New Approaches to Brain Tumor Treatment Consor-tium, a National Cancer Institute funded multi-institutional consortium dedicated to malignant brain tumor research.
Funding
The authors found the following Internet websites very useful in providing useful and accurate information about neuro-oncological applications for gene therapy. www.clinicaltrials.gov (Accessed June 2003). A website pro-vided by the National Institutes of Health and maintained by the National Library of Medicine listing all active clinical research studies. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/queryfcgi (Accessed June 2003). This Pubmed website, maintained by the National Library of Medicine, provides a database search for over 12 million MEDLINE citations from all the major medical journals dat-ing back to the 1960s. www.nci.nih.gov (Cancer.gov) (Accessed June 2003). The www.nabtt.org (Accessed June 2003). The official website for the New Approaches to Brain Tumor Treatment Consor-tium, a National Cancer Institute funded multi-institutional consortium dedicated to malignant brain tumor research.
Funders | Funder number |
---|---|
National Institutes of Health | |
National Cancer Institute | |
U.S. National Library of Medicine |
Keywords
- Brain tumors
- Gene delivery
- Gene targeting
- Gene therapy
- Gliomas