login
Become a member
Quick Registration
Full Registration Benefits -
Free Homepages for Doctors
Free Homepages for Hospitals
Free Homepages for Medical Conference
Free Homepages for NGO's
Personal Health Record Creation
Access to all Medical Slides
Access to all Jobs & Products Sale
Gene Therapy Eradicates Pancreatic Cancer in Mice
"This vehicle, or vector, is so targeted and robust in its cancer-specific expression that it can be used for therapy and perhaps for imaging," notes senior author Dr. Mien-Chie Hung, Professor and Chair of Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology at the institution.
In a report published in the journal Cancer Cell, the researchers have described the system as a versatile expression vector-nicknamed VISA. It includes a targeting agent that is also called a promoter, two components that boost gene expression in the target tissue, and a payload that is a gene known to kill cancer cells in this case.
All these are packaged in a fatty ball called liposome, and delivered through veins.
"This looks like a promising approach to gene therapy for pancreatic cancer and we are working to bring it to a clinical trial," says Dr. James Abbruzzese, Professor and Chair of the M. D. Anderson Department of Gastrointestinal Oncology.
It may take around one to two years to complete U.S. Food and Drug Administration requirements for a Phase I trial, he says.
In a study, the researchers loaded the VISA system with a mutant version of a gene named BiK, which expresses a protein that naturally forces cancer cells to kill themselves, in two different types of mice. Boffins created the more lethal mutant and named it BikDD.
|
|
|
More News on: Pancreatic Cancer, DNA Finger Printing, Cancer and Homeopathy, Reiki and Pranic Healing, Cancer Facts, Genetic Testing of Diseases, Cancer, Pancreas, Pancreatitis, Niemann-Pick Disease
 Comment & Contribute
|
Medwonders Health Network
- Health News Index
|
|
 | Quiz on Cancer Looking for information on cancer? Go through medindia's Cancer quiz. 
|
- News Quick Links
 |
Cancer
Complete Medindia Resources
|
| News Categories: |
| » | Report: A Lot of Americans Have No Access to Health Care |
| » | Greece Faces Humanitarian Crisis as Health Care Access Declines in EU, Doctors Group Warns |
| » | HCCI Report Says Rising Prices for Care Responsible for Increased Healthcare Costs for Privately Insured Americans |
| » | Treatment in ED is Based on Children's Insurance Status |
| » | US Spends Most on Healthcare Without Providing Superior Care |
| More Insurance News | |
|
