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Nature Medicine 6, 862 - 863 (2000)
doi:10.1038/78610

Gene therapy scores against cancer

W. French Anderson1

  1. University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine , Los Angeles, California 90033
    e-mail:  sdiaz@genome2.hsc.usc.edu


The first Phase II clinical trial to study the combination of a replicating viral agent with chemotherapy indicates that cancer gene therapy may finally be on the road to success. ( 879–885).


SQUAMOUS CELL CARCINOMA of the head and neck afflicts approximately 500,000 patients per year. The first-line treatment, chemotherapy, induces a response in only 30–40% of patients, and tumors frequently recur.