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.