cancer immunotherapy - our gene therapy science to treat cancer we develop a gene transfer strategy into autologous hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (hspcs) to target interferon-α expression to tumor-infiltrating monocytes/macrophages. an hiv-derived and genetically disabled viral vector - lentivirus - delivers the gene into the hspcs. interferon is a protein usually produced by the body in response to infections that also exhibits a powerful anti-tumor activity. however, the clinical use of interferon as a drug has been limited by its high toxicity. thanks to our innovative therapy, using a combination of transcriptional and microrna-mediated control, tumor-infiltrating monocytes/macrophages become capable to selectively express interferon limited to the tumor area, thus reducing its toxicity. based on these mechanisms, a population of tumor-infiltrating monocytes/macrophages, tie2-expressing monocytes (tems), are armed with a specific drug.