Abstracts, JCMS, Vol.
Gene therapy is an innovative and exciting new branch of medicine.
Despite the fact that a human disease has yet to be cured using this therapeutic approach, numerous clinical trials are taking place around the world based on encouraging preclinical data. The current level of gene delivery technology restricts the applications. The advantages and disadvantages of viral and nonviral gene delivery systems are discussed. Considerable advances are being made in the areas of cancer immunotherapy and vaccines. Of particular importance to the treatment of skin diseases will be the isolation and ex vivo manipulation of epidermal stem cells, the development of skin-specific regulatory sequences for gene expression, and the formulation of gene delivery systems suitable for systemic administration.