Gene therapy drugs for cancer in 6-7 years

Priyanka Golikeri/ DNA MONEY
Tuesday, 10 June , 2008, 08:44 Cancer, which is caused by faulty genes, kills about 7.5 million people globally each year, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

But the good news is, drugs which rectify the faulty genes —- and which can be used to treat breast, skin, prostate, and brain cancers —- would be introduced in India by 2014-15. About 80-90% of all cancers are caused by faulty genes or deficiency of a particular type of gene, says oncologist V Nair from Apollo Hospital, New Delhi. "Gene therapy is a multi-pronged approach which might help to a large extent in controlling the disease. 80% of breast and ovarian cancers are due to faulty genes," says gynaecologist Ranu Patni of Fortis Escorts Hospitals, Jaipur. Gene therapy works like this:

The lack of a gene called MSP36 is believed to cause breast and prostrate cancer. To correct this, a virus is genetically engineered with the MSP36 gene and introduced in the body of the patient through a drug. The gene produces a protein, also called MSP36, which stops blood vessels around the cell from being formed. "This cuts nutrition supply to the cells, which then can't multiply and die out," explains Sanjeev Saxena, chairman and CEO of Actis Biologics Pvt Ltd, the biotechnology company that is currently conducting the lab tests for such drugs. For skin and brain cancers, the virus is infused with a gene called IL21, and introduced in the patient's body. This stops random multiplication of the cancer cells, and simultaneously increase the immunity of the cells to produce proteins such as MSP36 that can kill the cancer cells, says Saxena.

"Lab tests are proving our assumptions and we hope the same would happen with the clinical trials also." It would take six to seven years for the drugs to hit the Indian market, after going through animal and human trials, according to experts.