Genetic Engineering And Its Effects On Cancer Essay

There were three trial phases that had to be completed. The first phase was to inject the Onyx-015 at the tumor site with a low dosage to see how the body responds and to observe the side effects. The results stated that patients had flulike symptoms including fevers, nausea and other effects. The main conclusion from the first phase trial was that the Onyx-015 virus did not have a big affect on the injected tumor. Only 5 of the 22 patients had a response to the tumor with the low dosage of the virus [13].

This article covers the Seneca Valley Virus (SVV-001) as a hopeful for an oncolytic treatment of certain cancer types. More specifically those with neuroendocrine properties such as rhabdomyosarcoma, Wilms tumor, glioblastoma, neuroblastoma, and adult small-cell lung cancer. Each of which effect smooth/skeletal muscle cells, kidneys/adrenal glands (mainly in children), astrocytes of the brain, nerve cells of a fetus, and lung cells in adults respectively. The virus was discovered by accident in a contaminated cell culture that contained bovine serum to promote growth. The virus was later discovered to be almost exclusively found in farm animals such as cows and pigs, due to the presence of neutralizing antibodies that were later to only ever have been found in one human sample. Just as important as that, the virus only targets the cells of the above-mentioned cancers/tumors, is a self-replicating RNA virus, and its inability to infect other cells in the body all come together to result in the lysis of these specific cancer cells. These properties alone give great hope for SVV-001 as a treatment for those infected by these diseases, and prompted for more research into its medicinal possibilities.

The virus lays latent for a week until it causes cancer, and the host dies within a few days, as the virus continues to inject its DNA. Because the virus mutates to look like the host cells, the virus looks and behaves differently in each person. Everything that makes someone unique is determined by the 1% of their 20,000 genes, and the virus takes advantage of that difference, making personalized medicine the only cure. Being able to tailor make an antibiotic, and nanoparticles to deliver the antibiotic so it would target just the virus, would save millions of

Herpes Simplex Virus(HSV) was identified as a highly attractive candidate for oncolytic virotherapy due to several reasons including the naturally cytolytic life cycle of HSV and the ability to infect a broad range cell type, a highly prevalent human pathogen which in vast majority of cases causes a self-limiting disease that can be treated with antivirals in life threatening cases and so on. The initial focus of oncolytic HSV (oHSV) virotherapy involved demonstrating the safety of oHSVs for the treatment of cancer.

Another example is Talimogene Iaherparepvec (OncoVEX GM-CSF), which is developed by Bio Vex, which later was purchased by Amgen for $ 1 billion in 2011 [21]. The virus is based on herpes simplex (HSV-1) and in March 2013, the virus has successfully completed a phase three trial for advanced melanoma [22]. It is expected to be the first oncolytic agent to be approved in the west. Also, it was examined in a phase one trial for pancreatic cancer and

Genetic engineering allows biologists to manipulate an organism's genomes by utilizing biotechnology (Moulton, 2004 ). The Talimogene Laherparepvec virus, otherwise known as T-vec, is an oncolytic virus. A oncolytic virus, is a virus that destroys cancerous cells. The T-vec virus has recently had successful results for treating melanoma cancer. The virus originated from the herpes simplex virus 1 and has been genetically altered to help destroy cancer cells.The virus gets injected into the lesions, lesions are areas on or in the body that have been damaged . Not only does the virus destroy cancer cells, it also activities the immune system to attack the cancer cells. Many changes were done to diminish the virus, expand the selective for the cancer cells, and release the cytokine. The modifications that were implanted in the virus were, HSV-1 strain (JS1) which is the DNA set of the herpes virus, that increases the death of the tumour cells. To delete ICP34.5, that stops the HSV infection in the cells that are not tumorous, and will provide selective tumour duplication. As Well as the deletion of ICP47 that allows antigen presentation, an antigen is a substance that helps enable an immune response. Placing in the US11 will

This new remedy that scientists are experimenting with is called virotherapy. Virotherapy was defined in the article as viruses that have been genetically engineered to find and kill cancer cells while leaving healthy cells untouched. A treatment such as this has been a favorable one considering how the traditional cancer chemotherapies have been known to not only attack cancer

Traditional chemotherapy typically lasts one to three years; however, virotherapy has proven to eliminate tumors in less than two weeks. While many chemotherapy treatments can cost more than $5,000 a month, adding drugs to this cost, according to the Food and Drug Administration, treatment for a year of priced above $100,000. Contrasting to chemotherapy, oncolytic virotherapy, since it is one single treatment, would cost a patient only $20,000. The modified T-cells are still able to reproduce even after the viruses has killed all the cancer cells. By doing so, it provides the patient’s body’s own immune system the lasting ability to fight cancer. In 2015, more than 86% of patients diagnosed with advanced cancer can hope for six to ten months, even those with better statistics than this heart-breaking one must undergo months/years of intensive, as well as expensive, toxic chemotherapy (Grady). With this new method of treatment, these statistics are expected to significantly change — longer lives as well as significantly less painful

Currently, modified viruses, liposomes and bacteria are being employed as vectors for gene transfer with viruses being by far the most commonly used (Bonn, 1996). According to Craig Donegan, there are three basic methods of delivery: the ex vivo method transfers DNA to cells extracted from the patient and reinjects those cells, the in vivo method injects vectors into the bloodstream to seek and bind targeted cells, and the in situ method injects vectors directly into the affected tissue (1995).

The defendant Monsanto owned a patent for Roundup Ready Canola, which contained genetically modified genes and cells. This product was resistant to the herbicide Roundup, which would kill all other plants. Monsanto issued licenses for the use of Roundup. Schmeiser, a farmer, never purchased Roundup Ready Canola nor did he have a license to plant it, yet in 1998 his fields contained 95-98% Roundup Ready plants. The issue before the court was the patent’s validity. Since all parties agreed that the patent was valid for the gene, the process of insertion and the cell derived from the process, the question was whether the patent covered the plant that is generated from the patented cell. According to the majority “infringement does not require use of the gene or cell in isolation” and there is infringement if the “patented invention is a significant aspect of the defendant 's activity”. Also in question was if Schmeiser “used” the patented gene or cell thus infringing the patent? The defendant was found to infringe the Patent by depriving the inventor of the full enjoyment of the monopoly conferred by law, by planting and celling the seed without buying or paying the licensing fee of the plant. In a 5-4 decision, the court ruled that genes and the cells that contain them can be patented. The court therefore ruled that the patent protection extended to the plant and that Schmeiser’s activity infringed the patent, and Schmeiser was ordered to pay the profits made from those

Despite the promise of such approaches, a number of difficulties remain to be overcome, the most important of which is the need for more efficient systems of gene delivery. No gene transfer system is 100% efficient, unless germ-line therapy is contemplated. During the past two decades, there have been major advances in our understanding of how cancer develops, proving that cancer has a genetic basis (2). A series of genetic abnormalities that accumulate in one cell may result in a pattern of abnormal clonal proliferation. Our growing understanding of the genetic basis of cancer offers new opportunities for the molecular prevention and treatment of cancer. There has been a

Author Chuck Klosterman said, “The simple truth is that we’re all already cyborgs more or less. Our mouths are filled with silver. Our nearsighted pupils are repaired with surgical lasers. We jam diabetics full of delicious insulin. Almost 40 percent of Americans now have prosthetic limbs. We see to have no qualms about making post-birth improvements to our feeble selves. Why are we so uncomfortable with pre-birth improvement?” Despite Klosterman’s accurate observation, there are reasons people are wearisome toward pre-birth enhancement. Iniquitous practices such as genetic engineering could lead to a degraded feeling in a child and conceivably end in a dystopian society, almost like the society Adolf Hitler had in mind. In the minds of

What if you could design your child before it was even born? What if you could cut out any life threatening diseases, make sure that your child is not susceptible to smoking addictions or alcoholism, and then make your child genius? Would you? Are you asking yourself how this could be done? Have you ever considered human genetic engineering?

Genetic Engineering has developed by very rapidly over the past twenty years. It is also one of the most controversial topics to go through the United States. From the research gene therapy to the cloning of different animals, genetic engineering can save lives while at the same time, endanger them as well. There are many pros and cons which are being heavily debated by political, scientific, and many other organizations. Most are centered on the idea of using Stem cells as a way of curing diseases.

Gene therapy is described as the transplantation of normal genes into cells in place of missing or defective ones in order to correct genetic disorders. 1 During the 1960’s and early 70’s the actual concept of what is now known to be gene therapy arose. Many new practices including the development of genetically marked cell lines and the delineation of cells transformation by the papaovaviruses polyoma were in the works. Cloned genes became a product of this new DNA technique and were used to prove that foreign genes could actually correct genetic disorders.2 This new technology in the medical field has a wide range of uses that is constantly growing larger as scientists continue to study and experiment with it. As of right now, the uses of gene therapy in the medical field consist of replacing missing or defective genes, delivering genes that speed the destruction of cancer cells, supplying genes that cause cancer cells to revert to their normality, delivering bacterial or viral genes as a form of vaccination, providing genes that promote or impede the growth of new tissue and delivering genes that stimulate the healing of damaged tissue.3 With this information, a wide variety of genes are now being used for testing within gene therapy. In the mid 1980’s the first use of gene therapy was practiced and then seen in a four-year old girl when she became the first gene therapy patient on September 14, 1990 at the NH Clinical Center. This four-year