Cancer Theraphy Blog

d) Gene therapy to increase resistance of hematopoietic cells to cytotoxic drugs. This technique is a clear example of the use of gene therapy protocols to enhance the antitumor activity of other cancer treatment modalities. The technique is a clear example of the use of gene therapy protocols to enhance the antitumor activity of other cancer treatment modalities. The technique is based on MDR1 gene transfer ex vivo bone marrow cells, and then reinvested after the patients. The MDR1 gene product is a glycoprotein localized in the cell membrane, which pumps cytotoxic agents outside the cells. The idea is to protect hematopoietic cells from the toxic effect of chemotherapeutic agents cause dose higher than normal. This could increase the antitumor efficacy of chemotherapy, to be possible to use higher doses of anticancer drugs, while avoiding the concomitant increase in side effects for patients. There are currently several active protocols that use different vectors for MDR1 gene transfer to tumors of breast or ovarian cancer treated with taxol, or other tumors treated with adriamycin, vincristine and actinomycin D. Although it is still early to assess the performance of these protocols, consider that there may be some limitations as, for example, that tumor cells present in bone marrow receive the MDR1 gene and cause tumors to be resistant to treatment re – injected into patients, or that the use of high doses of chemotherapeutic agents results in side effects cytotoxicity in hematopoietic tissues, among others.
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