[Gene therapy for colorectal cancer].

Gene therapy represents a novel approach to the treatment of colorectal cancer, and this brief review addresses the current strategies and ongoing clinical trials, including tumor suppressor gene replacement therapy with wild-type p53, virus-directed enzyme-prodrug therapy and immunomodulatory approaches. All of the clinical trials have been phase I, principally designed to evaluate safety, but some of them provided the evidence of gene delivery and expression. Although the results of pre-clinical studies have been encouraging, clinical trials have not yet demonstrated anti-tumor effect. Gene therapy for colorectal cancer is still in the early stages of development, and fundamental research in the molecular and cellular biology will improve the therapy.