Antisense therapy
The first gene therapy trial in Norway was performed at the Norwegian Radium Hospital. The trial was a phase II study with antisense oligonucleotide alone directed against PKC-a mRNA in patients with advanced malignant melanoma and lung cancer. The toxicity from the treatment was low, but the anti tumour activity of antisense treatment alone was not impressing. Another antisense trial is currently ongoing in lung cancer patients. It is a phase III, where antisense oligonucleotides directed against PKC-a mRNA is tested in combination with chemotherapy, gemcitabine and cisplatin. The objective is to establish if antisense therapy can enhance the activity of traditional chemotherapy in lung cancer patients.
A phase I/II clinical trial with adeno-virus transfected with wild type P-53 in patients with advanced ovarian cancer was approved and initiated, but due to very strict inclusion criteria and complications due to the abdominal catheter, the study was prematurely closed.
A phase I/II clinical trial with adeno-virus transfected with wild type P-53 in patients with advanced ovarian cancer was approved and initiated, but due to very strict inclusion criteria and complications due to the abdominal catheter, the study was prematurely closed.