SITE-SPECIFIC DELIVERY OF CYTOKINES IN CANCER

Cytokines can stimulate the immune response by directly activating eff ector cells and/or by inducing the release of secondary cytostatic or immunomodulatory molecules. Systemic administration of cytokines, howe ver, often causes numerous side effects in the patient and may not pro vide a constant level at the tumor site, owing to the variable and gen erally short half-lifes of cytokines. This has led to the development of novel strategies to deliver cytokines specifically to tumor sites i n vivo. These include: the use of monoclonal antibodies directed again st tumor antigens; cellular vehicles designed to carry genes to tumor sites; genetically engineered tumor cell vaccines; and targetable vira l vectors.