A major limitation of cancer gene therapy is the difficulty of delivering a therapeutic
gene to distant sites of metastatic disease. A promising strategy to address this
difficulty is to use expanded ex vivo cells to produce a therapeutic protein. As with other approaches to gene therapy,
this strategy is attractive when the therapeutic protein is unstable ex vivo or has a short circulating half life in vivo. The initial step to develop a cancer gene therapy using autologous cell delivery
is the identification of a cell type that migrates to the tumor site, is readily available
for harvesting, and is manipulated easily ex vivo. Recent evidence suggests that endothelial progenitor, precursor, and blood outgrowth
endothelial cells are attracted to the tumor vasculature by its angiogenic drive.
Here, we review recent advances in the study of circulating endothelial cell-mediated
tumor vasculogenesis and discuss the advantages and challenges of bringing endothelial
lineage-based cancer gene therapy closer to clinical application.
Abbreviations:
bFGF (basic fibroblast growth factor), BOEC (blood outgrowth endothelial cell), EBOEC (endostatin blood outgrowth endothelial cell), EC (endothelial cell), EGF (epidermal growth factor), ELC (endothelial lineage cell), EPC (endothelial cell progenitor), Flk-1 (fetal liver kinase-1), HUVEC (human umbilical vein endothelial cell), IGF (insulin-like growth factor), IGFR (IGF receptor), PBS (phosphate buffer solution), SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency), VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 06, 2010
Accepted:
July 13,
2010
Received in revised form:
July 12,
2010
Received:
March 29,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 Mosby, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
