Lung cancer, pulmonary gene therapy

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. 

Addresses nev. imaging research appivaches relevant to studies of pulmonary gene therapy, cystic fibrosis, lung cancer, asthma, and acute lung injury, among others. 

Since the early experimental success with gene therapy in the 1990s, the clinical use of gene therapy has been proven to be difficult. Phase I clinical trials for pulmonary diseases have focused primarily on cystic fibrosis and more recently on lung cancer (109,110). Although gene therapy for lung transplantation has seen increased experimental success, no clinical trials have been conducted. 

---