Gene therapy with SOCS1 for gastric cancer induces G2/M arrest and has an antitumour effect on peritoneal carcinomatosis.

Gastric cancer (GC) is the fourth most common cancer and the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths (Parkin et al, 2005; Ferlay et al, 2010; Fujiwara et al, 2012). Peritoneal carcinomatosis (PC) is the most frequent mode of recurrence and is responsible for about 60% of all deaths from GC (Maruyama et al, 2006). Peritoneal carcinomatosis develops from micro metastases that originate from free cancer cells seeded from a primary gastric tumour. It causes bowel obstruction and cancerous ascites and gradually decreases the quality of life of patients. GC patients with PC are considered to be noncurable and are usually treated with systemic chemotherapy without surgical resection. Although recent randomised clinical trials have proposed several standards for combination chemotherapy for incurable GC (Van Cutsem et al, 2006; Koizumi et al, 2008; Pasini et al, 2011), the median survival times associated with these regimens are about 12 months; thus, a new and multidisciplinary approach to GC is needed.