Linked Life Data

11137609

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/11137609

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
12
pubmed:dateCreated
2001-2-20
pubmed:abstractText
Gene therapy is a flexible technology with which to look for new ways of inhibiting cancer. However, the marginal success achieved has made it clear that direct engineering of cancer cells is more complex than had been supposed. The main barriers are raised by the difficulty of securing gene delivery into cancer cells in vivo and the selective advantages of those against which it is ineffective. These drawbacks do not arise when an immunological approach is adopted. Genes coding for tumor-associated peptides are used to engineer professional antigen presenting cells (APC). Alternatively APC pulsed with tumor antigens are engineered to overexpress costimulatory molecules or release cytokines. A more conservative approach is to engineer whole tumor cells with costimulatory and MHC molecules. Tumor cells can also be engineered to secrete cytokines and chemokines. The sustained presence of these factors in the tumor microenvironment recruits and activates distinct repertoires of APC and skews the antitumor response towards Th1 or Th2 reactivity. Engineered tumor cells are quickly rejected while mice acquire an immune memory against subsequent challenges, even when the tumor involved is poorly immunogenic. They also cure mice bearing incipient tumors and small metastases. This efficacy, however, vanishes as the tumor progresses. Even the best-induced specific immunity, therefore, is of no avail against advanced tumors. By contrast, the experimental data endorse the rational expectation that cancer vaccines will soon be both an established treatment of minimal disease after conventional management and a way of securing preventive antitumor vaccination.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Dec
pubmed:issn
0192-0561
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
22
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
1025-32
pubmed:dateRevised
2006-11-15
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2000
pubmed:articleTitle
The prospects for cancer gene therapy.
pubmed:affiliation
Institute for Cancer Research, University of Bologna, 40126, Bologna, Italy.
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Review, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't