RETROVIRUS-MEDIATED GENE-TRANSFER IN CANCER-THERAPY

Retroviral vectors are one of the most promising systems for the trans fer and the expression of therapeutic genes in human gene therapy prot ocols. This review will focus both on the advantages and intricacies o f retroviral vectors themselves as well as on the application of these vector systems in experimental and clinical cancer therapy protocols. Therefore, the retrovirus life cycle and the general features of retr oviral vectors, including possible targeting strategies with retrovira l vectors, are overviewed. These topics are followed by the presentati on of genes with emphasis on their potential as tools in somatic cell cancer therapy (cytokines, lymphokines, colony-stimulating growth fact ors, suppressor genes, antisense oncogenes, suicide genes). Finally, a prospect on the application of retroviral vectors will be described.