LONDON (Agence de Presse Medicale for Reuters Health) - Two new trials of gene therapies in patients with advanced cancer are to start in Britain, researchers said on Monday after winning government grants.
Professor Nick Lemoine, Director of the Cancer Research UK Clinical Centre at Barts and the London School of Medicine, will test whether gene therapy using a modified adenovirus, VTP-1, can have an effect on cancer that has spread to the liver from primary sites in the gastrointestinal tract.
He plans to inject VTP-1, which will have a crucial gene deleted -- the E1A conserved region 2 (E1A-CR2), intravenously so that the bloodstream carries it to the cancer cells in the patients’ livers.
Lemoine believes that the mutant VTP-1 adenovirus will be able to home in on cancer cells that have a matching E1A-CR2 mutation. The virus will grow and kill the cancer cells, while the normal cells are untouched.
The second project, by Dr. Nicol Keith, at the Beatson Laboratories for Cancer Research, Glasgow, is a trial of an adenovirus that carries a suicide gene. The trial will include patients with inoperable intra-abdominal cancer, for whom chemotherapy is not an option.
“Cancer cells appear to be totally reliant on telomerase for their long-term survival, and we have identified the molecular switch that cancer cells use to turn on telomerase,” he said in a statement.
“This knowledge has enabled us to develop a novel gene therapy, whereby we attach a molecular copy of this switch to a therapeutic gene and deliver it to the cells.
“The cancer cells think they are switching on telomerase when in fact they are switching on the therapeutic gene, which activates a prodrug that kills the cancer cells while sparing the normal cell,” Keith added.
The go-ahead for the two new trials follows a Department of Health pledge to distribute 600,000 pounds over the next 2 years for early-phase gene therapy trials.
MeSH Headings:Biological Therapy: Clinical Trials: Environment and Public Health: Epidemiologic Methods: Evaluation Studies: Genetic Engineering: Genetic Techniques: Health: Health Occupations: Health Services Administration: Medicine: Investigative Techniques: Population Characteristics: Preventive Medicine: Public Health: Quality of Health Care: Specialties, Medical: Therapeutics: Gene Therapy: Epidemiologic Study Characteristics: Health Care Quality, Access, and Evaluation: Health Care Evaluation Mechanisms: Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment: Biological Sciences: Health CareCopyright © 2002 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. Reuters and the Reuters sphere logo are registered trademarks and trademarks of the Reuters group of companies around the world.
