[Development of gene therapy for pancreatic cancer].

In order to develop the new therapeutic intervention for pancreatic cancer, we have examined the effect of gene therapy for this miserable pancreatic disease. The transfection of UPRT, a 5-FU converting enzyme, gene resulted in the significant change in sensitivity of pancreatic cancer cells against 5-FU. Anti-angiogenesis gene therapy has been also demonstrated to be a promising strategy for pancreatic cancer. It has been revealed that replication-competent adenoviruses are not only the strong weapon themselves but also useful carriers of genes possessing anti-tumor activities as virus vectors specific to tumors without normal p53 function nor intact Rb pathway. Whether these experimental results are universally true require the clinical trials in future.