Date: Thu, 18 Dec 1997 17:52:34 GMT Server: Apache/1.2.4 Last-Modified: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 19:28:58 GMT ETag: "9767-bfb-3458dffa" Content-Length: 3067 Accept-Ranges: bytes Connection: close Content-Type: text/html
Cancer
Cancer affects approximately one-third of the U.S. population and is the second leading cause of death: 1.2 million cases are diagnosed each year and over 500,000 people die from it annually. Cancer is also the leading cause of disease-related death in children and young adults. Current approved therapies for the treatment of cancer include chemotherapy, surgery and radiation or a combination of these with the aim of destroying the tumor, while leaving as much as possible of the normal tissue intact. These treatments, however, often have serious side effects with limited efficacy. More recently, drugs for specific tumor types, such as Interleukin-2 for renal cancer and Taxol for ovarian and breast cancer, were commercialized. Other exciting developments in the field relate to an increased understanding of developments in the field relate to an increased understanding of tumor suppressor genes, oncogenes, specific cancer-related genetic mutations, apoptosis (programmed cell death) and tumor antigens.
Gene therapy offers unique potential for cancer treatment. Today, a number of gene therapy trials are ongoing in various cancer patients, such as Vical's immunotherapy approaches using Allovectin-7 for melanoma, renal, colon, breast and lymphoma cancer and Leuvectin for various tumor types; Somatix's GVAX tumor vaccine for melanoma and kidney cancer; and Progenic's GMK vaccine for melanoma in Phase III.