Ad-endostatin treatment combined with low-dose irradiation in a murine lung cancer model

Tumor angiogenesis and anti-angiogenic gene therapy for cancer

When Folkman first suggested a theory about the association between angiogenesis and tumor growth in 1971, the hypothesis of targeting angiogenesis to treat cancer was formed. Since then, various studies conducted across the world have additionally confirmed the theory of Folkman, and numerous efforts have been made to explore the possibilities of curing cancer by targeting angiogenesis. Among them, anti-angiogenic gene therapy has received attention due to its apparent advantages. Although specific problems remain prior to cancer being fully curable using anti-angiogenic gene therapy, several methods have been explored, and progress has been made in pre-clinical and clinical settings over previous decades. The present review aimed to provide up-to-date information concerning tumor angiogenesis and gene delivery systems in anti-angiogenic gene therapy, with a focus on recent developments in the study and application of the most commonly studied and newly identified anti-angiogenic candidates for anti-angiogenesis gene therapy, including interleukin-12, angiostatin, endostatin, tumstatin, anti-angiogenic metargidin peptide and endoglin silencing.

Genetic Modification of the Lung Directed Toward Treatment of Human Disease

Genetic modification therapy is a promising therapeutic strategy for many diseases of the lung intractable to other treatments. Lung gene therapy has been the subject of numerous preclinical animal experiments and human clinical trials, for targets including genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis and α1-antitrypsin deficiency, complex disorders such as asthma, allergy, and lung cancer, infections such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and Pseudomonas, as well as pulmonary arterial hypertension, transplant rejection, and lung injury. A variety of viral and non-viral vectors have been employed to overcome the many physical barriers to gene transfer imposed by lung anatomy and natural defenses. Beyond the treatment of lung diseases, the lung has the potential to be used as a metabolic factory for generating proteins for delivery to the circulation for treatment of systemic diseases. Although much has been learned through a myriad of experiments about the development of genetic modification of the lung, more work is still needed to improve the delivery vehicles and to overcome challenges such as entry barriers, persistent expression, specific cell targeting, and circumventing host anti-vector responses.

Inhibitory effect of endostatin gene therapy combined with phosphorus-32 colloid on tumour growth in Wistar rats

Eighty healthy male Wistar rats, aged 5 weeks, weighing 100–120 g, were utilized for establishing tumour-bearing models by immediate Walker-256 cancerous ascites injection and randomly divided to four groups (n=20) treated with 0.2 ml solution containing saline, ³²P-colloid (0.3 mCi), endostatin gene (20 μg), endostatin gene combined with colloid ³²P. The effect of endostatin combined with a small dose of ³²P-colloidal on tumour growth in vivo was evaluated and the potential mechanism underlying the combined therapy was explored. We found that ³²P-colloid combined with endostatin exhibited higher inhibitory effect upon tumour growth compared with application of ³²P-colloid or endostatin alone, although three therapies all significantly inhibited tumour growth compared with saline control group. The higher inhibitory effect of ³²P-colloid combined with endostatin upon tumour growth might be attributed to a synergistic effect of inhibiting angiogenesis by endostatin and inducing apoptosis by ³²P-colloid, as demonstrated by microvessel density (MVD) and apoptotic index (AI) measurement. Combined therapy of ³²P-colloid and endostatin probably serves as a novel and efficacious therapy of tumour growth.