GENE-THERAPY FOR PROSTATE-CANCER

Prostate cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer deaths in the W estern world and current therapies are of limited efficacy in advanced disease. Both ex vivo and in vivo gene therapy strategies offer excit ing new possible approaches to the management of this disease. Ex vivo gene therapy involving interleukin-2 or granulocyte-macrophage colony -stimulating factor transduced whole tumour cell vaccines has shown gr eat promise in animal models The feasibility of in vivo corrective gen e therapy involving the replacement of mutant tumour suppressor genes, antisense strategies and the insertion of suicide genes has been demo nstrated in preclinical models. Several of these therapies are now ent ering phase I/II studies in patients with prostate cancer.