Biological therapy in cancer

The current therapeutic modalities for the treatment of patients with cancer are surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy, immunotherapy and hormonal therapy. The spontaneous regression of advanced disease in immunogenic tumours and the discovery of several gene classes involved in carcinogenesis has opened new avenues for exploring the control of cellular growth in cancer by biological therapy. There is gradual and steady improvement and refinement in immunotherapy while gene manipulation is becoming easier. Though many ethical and technical obstacles remain, the rapid rate of advancement in recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology may lead to a major breakthrough in gene therapy in the nearest future.