Gene expression blood circulation

Pulmonary gene therapy is attractive for the treatmment of chronic bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, a-1 antitrypsin deficiency, familial emphysema, asthma, pulmonary infections, surfactant deficiency, pulmonary hypertension, lung cancer, and malignant mesothelioma. The pulmonary endothelium may act as a bioreactor for the production and secretion of therapeutic proteins, such as clotting factors and erythropoietin into the blood circulation. There is a potential benefit for acquired lung diseases, as well as cancers, to be controlled and possibly treated by expression of cytokines, surfactant, antioxidant enzymes, or mucoproteins within lung cells. 

Other important monitoring parameter for thyroid carcinoma is the presence of tumor cells in bone marrow or the circulation of tumor cells in peripheral blood. For the detection of these tumor cells, molecular methods based on the detection of tissue-specific gene expression are developed. The most efficient molecular marker is mRNA encoding to the thyroid-specific hormone thyroglobulin (Tg), a further target is mRNA encoding specific enzymes involved in the synthesis of thyroid hormones such as thyroid peroxidase (TPO). Thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) is another thyroid-specific marker, which can be used for the diagnosis of thyroid tumors. 

In comparison to PEI polyplexes or standard polylysine polyplexes, dendritic poIy(L-Iysine) KG6 polyplexes appear to have more favorable biophysical characteristics for systemic administration a low zeta potential (+ 3 mV) of particles might be responsible for prolonged circulation in the blood flow. Passive tiunor targeting was observed starting at 1 h after administration. About 1% of the applied DNA dose was observed in the tumor (107]. hi vivo gene expression data have not yet been reported for this system. 

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