Priotities of Gene Therapy Essay -- Genetics Science Medicine Papers

Priotities of Gene Therapy Gene therapy is a relatively new area of medicine that attempts to apply recent advances in molecular biology, genetics and biotechnology to the treatment of human diseases. Gene therapy uses a set of approaches to the treatment of human disease based on the transfer of genetic material (DNA) into an individual. Gene delivery can be achieved either by direct administration of gene-containing viruses or DNA to blood or tissues, or indirectly through the introduction of cells manipulated in the laboratory to harbor foreign DNA. As a sophisticated extension of conventional medical therapy, gene therapy attempts to treat disease in an individual patient by the administration of DNA rather than a drug. (1) Genetic manipulations, such as replacing defective or missing genes with healthy ones, can be used to alter germ cells (egg or sperm) and somatic cells. Theoretically germ-line gene therapy appears to have more advantages since it aims at preventing a genetic defect from being transmitted to future generations. However, the prospects of germ-line gene therapy look more remote due to many unresolved ethical and social problems as well as technical obstacles. (2) What is presently understood as gene therapy is, mostly, somatic cell gene therapy. By altering the genetic material of somatic cells onetime cures of devastating, inherited disorders may be potentially achieved. But, "in principle, gene therapy should be applicable to many diseases for which current therapeutic approaches are ineffective or where the prospects of effective treatment appear exceedingly low." (1) However, gene therapy is still extremely new and highly experimental. The number of approved clinical trials is smal l, and relativ... ...scarbamylase deficiency. Hum Gene Ther 10(14):2419-37. 5. Lehrman, S. 1999. Virus treatment questioned after gene therapy death. Nature 401(6753):517-8. 6. Federico M. 1999. Lentiviruses as gene delivery vectors. Curr Opin Biotechnol 10(5):448-453. 7. Iwakuma, T, Y. Cui, L.J. Chang. 1999. Self-inactivating lentiviral vectors with U3 and U5 modifications. Virology 15;261(1):120-32. 8. Ropert, C. 1999. Liposomes as a gene delivery system. Braz J Med Biol Res;32(2):163-9. 9. Lanzov, V.A. 1999. Gene Targeting for Gene Therapy: Prospects. Mol Genet Metab 68(2):276-282. 10. Kren, B.T., R. Metz, R. Kumar, C.J. Steer .1999.Gene repair using chimeric RNA/DNA oligonucleotides. Semin Liver Dis 19(1):93-104. 11. Zanjani, D., W. French Anderson.1999. Prospects for in Utero Human Gene Therapy. Science 285(5436) p.2084-8. 12. New York Times, August 4, 1998.