[Somatic gene therapy in squamous epithelial carcinomas of the head-neck area].

Gene therapy is an important new approach to the treatment and prevention of human diseases. Somatic gene therapy involves the introduction of novel genetic material into somatic cells to express therapeutic gene products. Two main strategies in somatic gene therapy of cancer are applied: the genetic correction of the defect, or the elimination of cancer cells by cytotoxic drugs or the immuno system. Gene transfer can be accomplished by physical and chemical methods or nonreplicating viruses. The different transfer systems vary strongly in their efficiency of transfection, plasmid maintenance, and protein expression. The clinical application could be performed in two ways: Firstly, by in vivo application of genome modifying substances injected directly into the tumour; secondly, by ex vivo application of genetically modified tumour cells as a tumour vaccine. The following review will discuss some of the gene therapy strategies that could be effective in managing head and neck cancer.