Biological Therapy Gene therapy is a new approach to treating brain tumors and relies on the
transfer of a new gene into tumor cells . The tumor then receives a new set of instructions. One approach uses a virus to infect the tumor and insert a gene into the cancer cells. The infected cells become susceptible to an anti-viral medication and they die when treated with it. This technique has shown great promise and efforts are under way to begin treating humans.
Advances in the field of immunology have led to ground-breaking work in using the immune system to fight tumors. Methods have been developed to insert new genes into immune cells that will improve their tumor- fighting abilities. New research is focusing on using interferon, a compound that stimulates the immune system, to attack brain tumors.
