Mesothelioma Treatment Options: Gene Therapy

Gene Therapy Articles, Studies, & Abstracts

The following articles and abstracts relate to gene therapy and gene therapy for mesothelioma. We have attempted to select the most up-to-date resources, but this list is certainly not exhaustive. Please let us know if there are other resources you think we should be aware of.

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Articles & Press Releases

Lung cancer vaccine shows promise Star Telegram February 19, 2004

"The vaccine uses cancer cells obtained from the patient's tumor to activate the immune system. In the trial, 43 patients with early and advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer were treated with the vaccine. Half of the patients responded to the treatment."

Gene therapy cancer treatment success. BBC Tuesday, 1 August, 2000

"Tumours shrank in 25 out of 30 patients. In only 17% of the patients did the tumours progress. In eight patients, the tumour disappeared completely - and had not returned by the time the trial reported."

Studies & Abstracts

Susceptibility of mesothelioma cell lines to adeno-associated virus 2 vector-based suicide gene therapy.. Berlinghoff S, Veldwijk MR, Laufs S, Maser HP, Jauch A, Wenz F, Jens Zeller W, Fruehauf S. Lung Cancer. 2004 Nov;46(2):179-86.

"Using the rAAV-2-based suicide system, a nearly complete eradication of transduced and GCV-treated mesothelioma cells was observed. rAAV-2-based suicide gene therapy may be a new approach for locoregional treatment of mesothelioma."

Intrapleural administration of interleukin-2 for the treatment of patients with malignant pleural mesothelioma: a Phase II study. Astoul P, Picat-Joossen D, Viallat JR, Boutin C. Department of Pulmonology, Hopital de la Conception, Marseille, France. Cancer. 1998 Nov 15;83(10):2099-104.

"Conclusions: These results confirm that intrapleural administration of IL-2 is well tolerated and has antitumor activity in patients with [malignant pleural mesothelioma]. The authors recommend a dose of 21 x 10(6) IU/m2/day for 5 days. However, determination of the schedule of IL-2 and its superiority to conventional treatment in a Phase III study has yet to be accomplished."

Persistent vaccinia virus-interleukin 2 (VV-IL2) gene expression in malignant mesothelioma (MM) despite evidence of anti-viral immunity. Mukherjee S, Haenel T, Epton M, Lake RA, Harnett G, Phillips P, Drury P, Morey S, Smith D, Ramshaw I, Davidson J, Musk AW, Robinson BWS. Tumour Immunology Workshop, Perth, Western Australia, Australia, 4th-6th December, 1997.

"Conclusions: Intratumoral expression of VV-IL2 occurs for one week postinjection in subcutaneous MM deposits, despite the presence of high titres of vaccinia virus IgG. VV-IL2 administration leads to intratumoral T cell infiltration. No significant toxicity was observed. Vaccinia virus is an effective vector for cytokine delivery in gene therapy."

Phase I Clinical Gene Therapy Trial. Journal of the Louisiana State Medical Society, 150(4):168-74, April 1998.

Promising Gene Therapy in Treatment of Malignant Mesothelioma. Kucharczyk, et al.., Cancer Research, 57(3):466-71, February 1, 1997.

Potential "Suicide" Gene Therapy for Malignant Mesothelioma. Esandi, et al., Gene Therapy, 5(4):280-7, April, 1997.

New approaches for mesothelioma: biologics, vaccines, gene therapy, and other novel agents. Nowak AK, Lake RA, Kindler HL, Robinson BW. Semin Oncol. 2002 Feb;29(1):82-96.

"The development of more active cytotoxic combinations in this disease should facilitate further studies of chemoimmunotherapy. It seems likely that no single treatment modality will be effective by itself."

Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors for Cancer Treatment? Henriette Lindberg, Dorte Nielsen, Benny V Jensen, Jens Eriksen, Torben Skovsgaard. Acta Oncologica Volume 43, Number 2 / March 2004.

"In this paper we review the laboratory investigations and epidemiological studies on the anti-cancer actions of ACEi and present a summary of the evidence regarding the potential use of ACEi in cancer treatment."