The promise of gene therapy in head and neck cancer

Gene therapy represents a relatively new therapeutic modality that involves the transfer of genetic material into targeted cells in order to express therapeutic gene products. As concerns about the social implications of gene therapy decline, gene therapy is rapidly moving from an abstract scientific hope to a potential therapy for a variety of disease processes. Much of the early work in gene therapy was directed at treating relatively rare inherited diseases, such as adenosine deaminase deficiency and hemophilia. As the field of gene therapy emerges at a rapid pace, there is a growing body of literature describing the range of disease processes that gene therapy is being proposed to treat. This review deals with the relatively small body of literature devoted to the specific use of gene therapy in treating squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. The history of gene therapy, advances in the field of gene therapy in head and neck cancer, and its potential are discussed.