Many diseases, including cancer, result from defective, or mutated, genes in cells. The goal of gene therapy is to deliver a correct copy of the mutated gene directly to the nucleus of the abnormal cells, thereby restoring normal function of the gene. To insert the corrective gene into the nucleus, the corrective gene can be encapsulated in liposomes, small balls made of molecules that resemble cell membranes, or viruses. If viruses are used as the gene-delivery vector, the harmful viral genes are removed first and replaced with the corrective gene. The adenovirus, or common cold virus, often is used as the gene-delivery vector in gene therapy.
Ovarian cancer is the most serious of all gynecological cancers.
It is the fifth most common cancer among women, accounting for 4 percent of all cancers in women. According to the American Cancer Society, about 25,200 new cases of ovarian cancer will be diagnosed in the United States in 1999, and about 14,500 women will die from it. About 76 percent of ovarian cancer patients survive one year after diagnosis, and more than 40 percent survive longer than five years. Unfortunately, only 25 percent of all ovarian cancers are found at this early stage. The most common symptoms are a feeling of pressure or fullness in the pelvis, abdominal bloating, and changes in bowel or bladder habits.