Gene therapy for hematological malignancies

Since cancer is the result of genetic mutations, it should be well suited for correction through gene therapy. Hematological malignancies in which human gene transfer has been performed are leukemias, lymphomas, graft-versushost disease after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in leukemia, and multiple myeloma. Gene therapy may be used to induce or enhance an antitumor immunological reaction, to correct a genetic defect in the tumor cells, to render the malignant disease more susceptible to conventional therapies, to make the normal host cells more resistant to conventional therapies, or to track cells used for therapy. Gene therapy will probably be most valuable for the eradication of minimal residual disease after the use of conventional therapies. Received: 10 February 2003 / Accepted: 24 February 2003 Correspondence to I.G.H. Schmidt-Wolf