Transcriptional targeting for cancer gene therapy

Novel treatment strategies incorporating gene transfer technology represent a new frontier in the treatment of cancer made possible through recent developments in molecular biology. Targeting of gene therapy strategies that rely on in situ gene modifications can theoretically occur at the gene entry or gene expression level. Regulation of gene transcription is made possible through the incorporation of cell-specific promoter and enhancer sequences within the transgene construct. This article provides a brief review of transcriptional processes and a description of the most widely studied cell-specific regulatory elements.