Current Gene Therapy - Volume 15, Issue 2, 2015

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a complex liver disease with limited treatment options and often resulting in a poor prognosis. The development of HCC depends on the formation of new blood vessels and it demonstrates hypervascularity and invasive property to the surrounding vasculature clinically. A complex network of growth factors acting on both tumor cells and endothelial cells mediates the angiogenesis in HCC. It is a Read More

Cancer as a genetic disorder is one of the leading causes of death worldwide. Conventional anticancer options such as chemo- and/or radio-therapy have their own drawbacks and could not provide a cure in most cases at present. More effective therapeutic strategies with less side effects are urgently needed. Aptamers, also known as chemical antibodies, are single strand DNA or RNA molecules that can bind to their target m Read More

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is a malignancy with high morbidity and mortality rates, especially in East Asia. Gene therapy is a potential approach for treating HCC. An efficient and safe gene delivery method is a crucial factor for HCC gene therapy. In recent years, gene delivery systems, including viral and non-viral gene vectors, bacteria, and physical methods, have undergone substantial development. Among t Read More

miR-122, a completely conserved liver-specific miRNA in vertebrates, is essential for the maintenance of liver homeostasis. This 22 nucleotide RNA regulates diverse functions such as cholesterol, glucose and iron homeostasis, lipid metabolism and infection of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and of the parasitic protozoa, Leishmania donovani. It is the first miRNA that underwent successful clinical trials in HCV infected patients. In contras Read More

Surgical resection is the only curative option for patients with gastrointestinal carcinomas. Unfortunately, the majority of patients are diagnosed in advanced stages when surgery is not possible. Moreover, the incidence and mortality for certain type of tumors such as hepatocellular carcinoma or pancreatic cancer are steadily increasing worldwide. In spite of the advances in the development of molecular targeted therapies for Read More

Cancer stem cells (CSCs) are a subset of cells within tumours that have the ability to selfrenew, differentiate and resist both chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Evidence has emerged in recent years to support liver cancer stem cells (LCSCs) as the key tumour initiating cells and major drivers of tumour progression in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Currently the major approaches to targeting LCSCs are ablating the expressio Read More

Notch signaling is an evolutionarily conserved pathway crucial for the development and homeostasis of many organs including liver. Aberrant Notch signaling has been mechanistically linked to cancer development including liver cancer. The two principal types of liver cancer are hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (IHCC). HCCs comprise over 80% of all liver cancers and are the 6th most comm Read More

Exosomes are 30 - 100 nm bodies secreted from almost all types of cells into the extracellular spaces. They enclose in their lumen active genetic information in the form of messenger RNA (mRNA), micro RNA (miRNA), DNA and active peptides that are representative of the parental cell and can be isolated from different body fluids. Exosomes can participate in inter-cellular communication by trafficking molecules to their tar Read More

Gastrointestinal and liver cancers are among the most frequently encountered cancers worldwide. Though great strides have been made in improving the early detection and overall patient survival in the last decade, the currently available treatment approaches remain suboptimal due to drug resistance and side effects. Apoptosis is the most desirable type of programmed cell death in cancer therapy. By eliminating unn Read More

RNAi based therapeutics hold s great promises to be an efficient strategy of the anti-gene realm in context of its therapeutic applications; however, despite significant potentials, its full efficacy cannot be realized in real sense owing to various confronts that plague its advancement. Efforts need to be driven for the development of specific and efficacious strategies to subdue some of their crucial constraints towards successes in Read More