Abstract

Prostate Cancer Gene Therapy as Translational Research

Yasutomo Nasu, Professor, Okayama University

Prostate is an ideal target organ for the gene therapy as a translational research (TR). It has advantages as follows : prostate is not a life keeping organ, can be approached easily by ultrasound as a routine clinical technique  and PSA is a potent tumor marked for the evaluation of clinical response. Many clinical gene therapy trials for prostate cancer have been conducted in many institutes showing clinical safety and efficacy including Japanese trial. Intraprostatic therapeutic gene transduction (in situ gene therapy) is one of the potent therapeutic option for prostate cancer gene therapy aiming at anti-metastatic benefits through the generation of immune cell-mediated cytotoxic activities that affect not only the primary tumor but also metastatic lesion. In this lecture, role of academia for the development of gene therapy as a translational research will be discussed base on our experience for 20 years. I would like to discuss about the present problem and future direction for the development of gene therapy.