Gene therapy of cancer with interferon: lessons from tumor models and perspectives for clinical applications

Cytokine gene transfer is a current approach in studies of gene therapy of cancer. IFNs represent valuable cytokines for these studies, since they exert multiple biological effects, including anti-tumor activities. Early studies have been focused on IFN- γ. Recently, several reports have shown that the transfer of type I IFN (especially IFN- α) genes represents a powerful approach for inducing tumor suppression. Recent studies have underscored new IFN-induced activities on immune cells. This knowledge adds a further rationale for the use of IFN- α in strategies of gene therapy of cancer and can be exploited for the design of more selective and effective anticancer treatments.