Lung cancer gene therapy given trial run

An American lung cancer patient is the first person to receive gene therapy for the disease, scientists said yesterday.

The patient, with advanced lung cancer, was injected with a normal copy of a gene known as p53, which controls cell division. About half of the 6.5 million cancers diagnosed world-wide each year are linked with mutations of this gene.

Dr Jack Roth, of the University of Texas MD Cancer Center, said that animal tests had shown that growth of cancer cells is suppressed when normal p53 genes are introduced into the tumour. He used a "viral vector", a harmless retrovirus that carries the gene into human cells.

"In this Phase 1 study, the p53 gene has been packaged in particles with retroviral components essential for getting the p53 gene into cancer cells where it can potentially exert its biological function," Dr Roth said.

Surgeons had removed as much of the lung tumour as they could before Dr Roth injected the p53/retrovirus combination into the "tumour bed" - the cancerous tissue that could not be surgically removed.

The p53 gene is an important tumour suppressor gene. Scientists believe it promotes repair of DNA, safeguarding against genetic mutations which occur when cells reproduce and which can lead to abnormal cell growth. In cells which only have mutated p53 genes, the errors remain uncorrected and are often linked with tumour development. The Phase 1 trial aims to test the safety of the gene therapy in humans.