Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

The Attitude of Oncology Physicians and Nurses to the Acceptance of New Drugs for Gene Therapy

  • Published:
Journal of Cancer Education Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

With the efficacy of gene therapy verified in phase III trials, cancer patients will consider whether to accept gene therapy sooner or later. The purpose of this study is to investigate the attitudes of oncology physicians and nurses regarding effective gene therapy. A questionnaire was administered to 368 oncology physicians and nurses. A total of 328 valid questionnaires were returned (response rate, 89.1%). Gene therapy was considered as very safe or safe by 256 (78.0%) participants. Regardless of the stage of cancer, participants who advised patients to enroll in clinical trials and considered gene therapy as safe tended to accept the effective gene therapy. Gene therapy is considered to be a safe treatment. Most participants are willing to accept effective and verified gene therapy on the assumption that they themselves suffer from cancers.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Brower V (2008) Cancer gene therapy steadily advances. J Natl Cancer Inst 17,100(18):1276–1278

    Google Scholar 

  2. Schapowal AG, Baer HU (2002) Medical ethics in peace and in the armed conflict. Mil Med 167(8 Suppl):26–31

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Dettweiler U, Simon P (2001) Points to consider for ethics committees in human gene therapy trials. Bioethics 15(5–6):491–500

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Wilson JM (2009) Lessons learned from the gene therapy trial for ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency. Mol Genet Metab 96(4):151–157

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Gottweis H (2002) Gene therapy and the public: a matter of trust. Gene Ther 9(11):667–669

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Abbott A (2001) Genetic medicine gets real. Nature 411(6836):410–412

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Xie Y, Zhang H, Sheng W, Xiang J, Ye Z, Yang J (2008) Adenovirus-mediated ING4 expression suppresses lung carcinoma cell growth via induction of cell cycle alteration and apoptosis and inhibition of tumor invasion and angiogenesis. Cancer Lett 271(1):105–116

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ning T, Yan X, Lu ZJ et al (2008) Gene therapy in orthotopic lung cancer murine model with angiogenesis inhibitor, endostatin. Hum Gene Ther 20(2):103–111

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Gordon EM, Levy JP, Reed RA, Petchpud WN, Liu L, Wendler CB, Hall FL (2008) Targeting metastatic cancer from the inside: a new generation of targeted gene delivery vectors enables personalized cancer vaccination in situ. Int J Oncol 33(4):665–675

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Du XB, Lang JY, Xu JR et al (2008) Vesicular stomatitis virus matrix protein gene enhances the antitumor effects of radiation via induction of apoptosis. Apoptosis 13(10):1205–1214

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Gao ZN, Wei YQ, Yang PS, Xu X, Zhao HQ, Huan X, Kang B (2007) Combined effects of soluble vascular endothelial growth factor receptor FLT-1 gene therapy and cisplatin chemotherapy in human tongue carcinoma xenografts. Oral Oncol 43(5):477–483

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Senzer N, Nemunaitis J (2009) A review of contusugene ladenovec (Advexin) p53 therapy. Curr Opin Mol Ther 11(1):54–61

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Bonatti J, Haeusler C, Klaus A, Fink M, Hammerer-Lercher A, Laufer G (2002) Acceptance of gene therapy by the heart surgery patient. Eur J Cardio-thorac surg 21(6):981–986

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Holm S, Jayson G (2001) What do patients, their relatives and medical staff know about genetic therapy? Bull Med Ethics 173:13–19

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Guinn BA, Mulherkar R (2008) International progress in cancer gene therapy. Cancer Gene Ther 15(12):765–775

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Macer DR (1992) Public acceptance of human gene therapy and perceptions of human genetic manipulation. Hum Gene Ther 3(5):511–518

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Macer DR, Akiyama S, Alora AT et al (1995) International perceptions and approval of gene therapy. Hum Gene Ther 6(6):791–803

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Hedman M, Muona K, Hedman A et al (2009) Eight-year safety follow-up of coronary artery disease patients after local intracoronary VEGF gene transfer. Gene Ther 16(5):629–634

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Li JY, Liu C, Zou LQ, Huang MJ, Yu CH, You GY, Jiang YD, Li H, Jiang Y (2008) To tell or not to tell: attitudes of Chinese oncology nurses towards truth telling of cancer diagnosis. J Clin Nurs 17(18):2463–2470

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  20. Jiang Y, Li JY, Liu C, Huang MJ, Zhou L, Li M, Zhao X, Wei YQ (2006) Different attitudes of oncology clinicians toward truth telling of different stages of cancer. Support Care Cancer 14(11):1119–1125

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  21. Jiang Y, Liu C, Li JY et al (2007) Different attitudes of Chinese patients and their families toward truth telling of different stages of cancer. Psychooncology 16(10):928–936

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Chen Z, Gu K, Zheng Y, Zheng W, Lu W, Shu XO (2008) The use of complementary and alternative medicine among Chinese women with breast cancer. J Altern Complement Med 14(8):1049–1055

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Cui Y, Shu XO, Gao Y, Wen W, Ruan ZX, Jin F, Zheng W (2004) Use of complementary and alternative medicine by chinese women with breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res Treat 85(3):263–270

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Joffe S, Weeks JC (2002) Views of American oncologists about the purposes of clinical trials. J Natl Cancer Inst 94(24):1847–1853

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  25. Slevin ML, Stubbs L, Plant HJ, Wilson P, Gregory WM, Armes PJ, Downer SM (1990) Attitudes to chemotherapy: comparing views of patients with cancer with those of doctors, nurses, and general public. Br Med J 300(6737):1458–1460

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgement

We thank all the persons who help us in this study.

Conflict of Interest

None.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yu Jiang.

Additional information

Zi-ming Liu and Chang Liu contributed equally to this work.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Liu, Zm., Liu, C., Li, Jy. et al. The Attitude of Oncology Physicians and Nurses to the Acceptance of New Drugs for Gene Therapy. J Canc Educ 26, 248–253 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-010-0172-0

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13187-010-0172-0

Keywords

Navigation