New Rochelle, NY, February 26, 2016--A novel HIV-based lentiviral vector can introduce a gene to pancreatic tumor cells that makes them more sensitive to the chemotherapeutic drug gemcitabine, without integrating into cellular DNA. This integrase-defective lentiviral delivery system greatly reduces the risk of insertional mutagenesis and replication-competent lentivirus production, as describe in a new study published in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free to read on the Human Gene Therapy website until March 31, 2016.

The article, "Initial Characterization of Integrase-Defective Lentiviral Vectors for Pancreatic Cancer Gene Therapy," is part of a special issue of Human Gene Therapy focusing on advances in gene and cell therapy research in France, led by Guest Editors Nathalie Cartier, MD, Director of Research, INSERM, Paris, and President, European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy (ESGCT), and Pierre Cordelier, PhD, Senior Researcher, INSERM, Toulouse, France, and President, French Society of Cell and Gene Therapy (SFTCG). The special issue will be distributed at the SFTCG meeting, March 9-11, Marseilles, France.

Naima Hanoun, Marion Gayral, Adeline Pointreau, Louis Buscail, and Pierre Cordelier, INSERM (Toulouse), Université Toulouse III-Paul Sabatier, and CHU Toulouse-Rangueil, demonstrate that an integrase-deficient lentiviral vector can deliver the gene that encodes for DCK protein to pancreatic adenocarcinoma-derived cells in the laboratory with high efficacy. These cells are typically very resistant to gene transfer. The researchers previously showed early evidence that therapeutic gene therapy using non-integrating lentiviral vectors could inhibit the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells when combined with chemotherapy.

"Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most dreaded diagnoses a patient can receive," says Editor-in-Chief Terence R. Flotte, MD, Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medical Edu-cation and Dean, Provost, and Executive Deputy Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester, MA. "Gene therapy offers hope when no other options may exist."

###

About the Journal

Human Gene Therapy, the Official Journal of the European Society of Gene and Cell Therapy, British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy, French Society of Cell and Gene Therapy, German Society of Gene Therapy, and five other gene therapy societies, is an authoritative peer-reviewed journal published monthly in print and online. Led by Editor-in-Chief Terence R. Flotte, MD, Celia and Isaac Haidak Professor of Medical Education and Dean, Provost, and Executive Deputy Chancellor, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Human Gene Therapy presents reports on the transfer and expression of genes in mammals, including humans. Related topics include improvements in vector development, delivery systems, and animal models, particularly in the areas of cancer, heart disease, viral disease, genetic disease, and neurological disease, as well as ethical, legal, and regulatory issues related to the gene transfer in humans. Its companion journals, Human Gene Therapy Methods, published bimonthly, focuses on the application of gene therapy to product testing and development, and Human Gene Therapy Clinical Development, published quarterly, features data relevant to the regulatory review and commercial development of cell and gene therapy products. Tables of contents for all three publications and a free sample issue may be viewed on the Human Gene Therapy website.

About the Publisher

Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Nucleic Acid Therapeutics, Tissue Engineering, Stem Cells and Development, and Cellular Reprogramming. Its biotechnology trade magazine, GEN (Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website.