University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Cancer Research Building, Room 218, 19 South Manassas Street, Memphis, TN 38163, USA.
Expert Opin Drug Deliv. 2010 Jan;7(1):19-35. doi: 10.1517/17425240903419608.
Cancer is both a major health concern and a care-cost issue in the US and the rest of the world. It is estimated that there will be a total of 1,479,350 new cancer cases and 562,340 cancer deaths in 2009 within the US alone. One of the major obstacles in cancer therapy is the ability to target specifically cancer cells. Most existing chemotherapies and other routine therapies (such as radiation therapy and hormonal manipulation) use indiscriminate approaches in which both cancer cells and non-cancerous surrounding cells are treated equally by the toxic treatment. As a result, either the cancer cell escapes the toxic dosage necessary for cell death and consequently resumes replication, or an adequate lethal dose that kills the cancer cell also causes the cancer patient to perish. Owing to this dilemma, cancer- or organ/tissue-specific targeting is greatly desired for effective cancer treatment and the reduction of side effect cytotoxicity within the patient.
In this review, the strategies of targeted cancer therapy are discussed, with an emphasis on viral-based gene delivery and regulated gene expression.
Numerous approaches and updates in this field are presented for several common cancer types.
A summary of existing challenges and future directions is also included.
癌症是一个主要的健康问题，也是在美国和世界其他地区的医疗费用问题。据估计，仅在美国，2009 年将有总共 1479350 例新的癌症病例和 562340 例癌症死亡病例。癌症治疗的主要障碍之一是能够有针对性地针对癌细胞。大多数现有的化疗药物和其他常规疗法（如放射疗法和激素治疗）采用不分青红皂白的方法，即有毒治疗平等对待癌细胞和非癌周围细胞。结果，要么癌细胞逃脱了对细胞死亡至关重要的有毒剂量，从而重新开始复制，要么杀死癌细胞的足够致死剂量也会导致癌症患者死亡。由于这种困境，癌症或器官/组织特异性靶向对于有效的癌症治疗和减少患者的细胞毒性副作用非常重要。
本篇综述讨论了靶向癌症治疗的策略，重点是基于病毒的基因传递和调节基因表达。
为几种常见的癌症类型提供了该领域的许多方法和最新进展。
还包括对现有挑战和未来方向的总结。
