DETAILED DESCRIPTION The present invention provides methods of treating cancer in a patient (e.
g.
, a mammal such as a human) in need of such treatment, comprising administering an effective amount of (1) a farnesyl protein transferase (FPT) inhibitor and (2) an additional Ras signaling pathway inhibitor.
The methods of the present invention achieve an unexpectedly dramatic induction of cancer cell death (apoptotic cell death in particular).
The effects are synergistic, and highly selective against transformed cells (particularly tumorigenic cancer cells), thus enabling the use of low doses to minimize potential toxic side effects against normal, untransformed cells.
Moreover, the methods of the present invention were surprisingly found to have a long-lasting, sustained effect on blocking cell signaling, again while minimizing potential toxic side effects against normal, untransformed cells.
None of these effects, let alone their magnitude, could have been predicted prior to the present invention.
Furthermore, taking advantage of the surprising synergy and sustained, long-lasting effects of this invention, special low-dose methods are provided so that cancer cell death is effectively achieved while, at the same time, maintaining low risk of potential toxic side effects on normal, untransformed cells.
The methods of the present invention are particularly useful for the treatment of various tumorigenic cancers, especially epithelial cancers, (e.
g.
, pancreatic cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer, breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and bladder cancer), and melanoma.
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Gene Therapy 
