Basic principles associated with gene therapy of cancer

Advances in gene delivery systems have made possible the development of strategies to eradicate cancers via genetic manipulation. Although the strategy of ‘gene therapy’ remains in its infancy, experimental tumour models have produced encouraging results and have demonstrated that tumour growth or development can be altered by genetic manipulations. Investigators are hopeful that current and future human trials will confirm the role of these modalities in cancer treatment. This review focuses on several aspects of gene therapy that provide clinicians with a framework to understand the rationale and basic principles underlying current gene therapy protocols being conducted for cancer treatment. The relative merits of different gene delivery systems and the mechanisms underlying clinical gene therapy strategies are reviewed. In addition, we discuss the relevance of these new techniques to the oncologic surgeon.