How Gene Therapy Can Work with Cancer

Please Bookmark:

Gene therapy is the delivery of genes to cells to replace missing or ‘bad’ genes, which left unchecked lead to diseases like cancer. Cancer is caused by gene mutations so the theory is that gene therapy could help to replace some nonexistent function or make the damaged gene work. Tumor suppressor genes in cells stop cancers from forming but cancer cells carry defective copies of these genes. So by replacing these defective genes the cancer can be prevented.

Certain mutations of normal genes cause cancer cells to start dividing uncontrollably or help in spreading cancer cells to other parts of the body. Gene therapy would help to stop the functioning of these cells. Some genes help cancer cells become resistant to chemotherapy and these genes can be obstructed with gene therapy. The immune system can also easily detect and destroy cancer cells.

However, it is first necessary to discover which genes are missing or defective in order to treat a patient using gene therapy. This is where genetic testing comes in. Some gene tests have been developed to identify cancer-connected genes in the human body and the patient can know whether they have a genetic mutation or not.

This is the theory behind using gene therapy to fight cancer. In order to deliver the genes to the cells scientists are coming up with various techniques. Viruses that are suitable for gene therapy can be used to introduce the genes into the body. Another way to do this is to collect some of the tumor cells out of the body, add the ‘working’ gene to them, and then replace them in the body. The same can be done with the immune system cells so that they are easily able to identify the cancer cells once back in the body.

Gene therapy has so far been used to treat genetic diseases but it is not available to the public as yet. Clinical trials are going on and volunteers can join a research study to further the work being done.