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Viral Vectors Versus Lung Cancer
(Wednesday June 10 2009)
 | An example of the sort of work presently taking place in cancer research laboratories: "A new lung cancer therapy employing a vaporized viral vector to deliver a cancer-inhibiting molecule directly to lung tissue shows early promise in mouse trials ... Aerosol delivery targets the lungs specifically and represents a noninvasive alternative for targeting genes to the lung ... [researchers] targeted the Akt signaling pathway, which has been shown to be an important regulator of cell proliferation and cancer progression. A recent report found that 90 percent of non-small cell lung carcinomas were associated with the activation of the Akt signaling pathway. They chose a lentiviral vector [known] for its ability to infect nondividing cells and effect persistent genetic changes. They transfected the lentiviral vector with a negative regulator of Akt signaling [which] would theoretically inhibit Akt signaling, thus suppressing cancer cell proliferation and tumor growth." This strategy produced material benefits in mice, albeit not quite as impressive as some other technology demonstrations of virally delivered therapies. |
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