Gene therapy

Abstract

Applications of gene therapy have been evaluated in virtually every oral tissue, and many of these have proved successful at least in animal models. While gene therapy will not be used routinely in the next decade, practitioners of oral medicine should be aware of the potential of this novel type of treatment that doubtless will benefit many patients with oral diseases.

Gene Therapy in Head and Neck Cancer

“…The term gene transfer refers to the delivery of a gene, a c DNA, a small RNA, i.e., any type of oligonucleotide that might have some therapeutic benefit, to a pre-determined target cell [11] . The objective of gene therapy is to introduce new genetic material into target cells while causing no harm to the surrounding normal tissue.…”

“…Better patient response was noted in recurrent head and neck cancer patients when a combination therapy of "ONYX-015" with 5-fluorouracil and cisplatin was instituted. [11] .…”

“…However, most of the post irradiation patients have insufficient acinar cell mass which has led to the consideration of use of gene therapy for salivary hypo-function post radiotherapy in HNSCC patients [11] . Salivary gland is considered as an attractive target for gene based therapy firstly because of its easy access and the ductal orifices of the glands open into the mouth.…”

“…Post administration of AdhAQP1, the water impermeable ductal cells became water permeable and thus more saliva was secreted into the mouth. In the first human clinical trial, in 11 head and neck cancer survivors, aquaporin1 gene therapy was instituted and it was found that six participants had increased levels of saliva secretion and there were reduced subjective complaints in the other five subjects [11] .…”

“…In the oral region the focus of gene therapy was mainly on primary treatment of oral squamous cell carcinoma but currently the salivary glands are also being regarded as a promising target thus enabling the repair of gland damage which usually follows therapeutic radiation for head and neck cancers [11] . Also the successful clinical trials of gene therapy in oral cancer patients have further made scientists believe that gene therapy can be an important tool in combating potentially malignant diseases thereby preventing malignant transformation.The aim of this review is to shed light on gene therapy as a treatment modality for cancer, as a means to counter the side effects of radiotherapy and a tool to prevent malignant transformation of potentially malignant disorders.…”