Marrow Protection: Transduction of Hematopoietic Cells with Drug Resistance Genes

Successful transfer of drug resistance genes into hematopoietic stem cells affords promise as a means of protecting patients from the myelotoxicity of anti-cancer drugs and may permit dose intensification and better outcomes. The use of peripheral blood mobilized progenitor cells has improved the access to this cell population and ex vivo gene transfer approaches. Transfer of drug resistance genes into peripheral blood mobilized progenitor cells together with nonselectable genes, also offers the possibility of expression of proteins produced by these genes and correction of genetic deficiencies or expression of other desirable proteins such as antibodies. The studies published in this book review the progress in this field, emphasizing the work done with retroviral vectors and various genes that may be used to confer specific types of drug resistance to recipients.