Voutsinas G E, Stravopodis D J
Laboratory of Environmental Mutagenesis and Carcinogenesis, Institute of Biology, NCSR Demokritos, Aghia Paraskevi, Athens, Greece.
J BUON. 2009 Sep;14 Suppl 1:S69-78.
Urothelial carcinoma of the bladder is the second most common genitourinary malignancy and the second most common cause of genitourinary cancer-related deaths with a worldwide estimate of about 300,000 new cases diagnosed every year. A significant problem in this type of cancer is the high recurrence rate of non-invasive primary tumors, leading to a high percentage of tumor progression and to a very poor 5-year survival rate. Targeted and gene therapy are currently the two major efforts in cancer treatment. Targeted therapy refers to strategies against specific cellular molecules deregulated in tumors, whereas gene therapy focuses on the genetic modification of tumor cells, mainly for correcting gene defects, inducing selective tumor cell death or modulating host's immune response. Recent advances in our understanding of the pathogenesis of bladder cancer at the molecular level have provided a significant number of cellular targets for therapy and have shown the importance of individualized therapy according to the molecular profile exhibited by the tumor cells. While the major problems of both targeted and gene therapy are far from being solved yet, both lines of cancer therapy hold promising results. This article aims at providing a brief general overview of this broad subject.
膀胱尿路上皮癌是第二常见的泌尿生殖系统恶性肿瘤，也是泌尿生殖系统癌症相关死亡的第二大常见原因，全球每年估计有30万新病例被诊断出来。这类癌症的一个重大问题是无创原发性肿瘤的高复发率，导致肿瘤进展的比例很高，5年生存率很低。靶向治疗和基因治疗是目前癌症治疗的两大主要方向。靶向治疗是指针对肿瘤中失调的特定细胞分子的策略，而基因治疗则专注于肿瘤细胞的基因修饰，主要用于纠正基因缺陷、诱导选择性肿瘤细胞死亡或调节宿主的免疫反应。我们对膀胱癌分子水平发病机制的最新认识进展为治疗提供了大量细胞靶点，并显示了根据肿瘤细胞表现出的分子特征进行个体化治疗的重要性。虽然靶向治疗和基因治疗的主要问题都远未得到解决，但这两种癌症治疗方法都有取得良好结果的前景。本文旨在对这个广泛的主题进行简要概述。
