What is 'gene therapy'?

What is 'gene therapy'?

Jay M. Lee (Surgical Director, Thoracic Oncology Program, UCLA) gives expert video advice on: What are other local treatments if I do not want surgery or can't have surgery?; How does chemotherapy cure lung cancer?; How does radiation cure lung cancer? and more...

Gene Therapy is the transfer of genes to the patient's cells to treat certain diseases. In lung cancer this remains an investigational modality that remains to be defined. Currently there are centers that research lung cancer where we are looking at immuno Therapy. UCLA is one of those institutions. We take the patient's own immune cells called antrytic cells We modify these immune cells with gene Therapy using common flu viruses and we then inject that antrytic cell, the patient's own immune cell, into the lung cancer. Whether this will have Therapeutic effects remains to be defined so immuno Therapy and gene Therapy remains investigational at the current time.