List Of Pros And Cons Of Gene Therapy

Gene therapy: Is a treatment method that involves the manipulation of an individual's genetic makeup. A form of therapy that attempts to fix the defective gene which is causing the disease.

Some people may wonder what gene therapy is. Gene therapy is the replacing of defective or missing genes with normal genes in order to cure the disorder. In the future, this technique may be used to prevent or treat a disorder by inserting

Gene therapy is a method involving DNA to treat or prevent disease. It is the insertion of a corrected gene into an organism’s cell to mask the presence of the dysfunctional gene, instead of surgery or using drugs. Put simple, gene therapy is the process of using DNA as a drug. Generally, a vector (‘delivery vehicle’) is used to go to the cells where it is needed and deliver a gene, if this is successful, the cell will then be able to produce a functional protein to treat or prevent the disease. Since the gene causing CF was discovered, it is now possible to attempt gene therapy to

Gene Therapy is an experimental form of treatment that aims to get rid of genetic conditions at their source. It also may be used to replace a faulty gene with a working version or introduce a new gene to cure a condition or modify its effects. ( Victoria State Government, 2011) It is designed to introduce genetic material into cells to compensate for abnormal genes or to create a beneficial protein within the gene. If a mutated or incomplete gene creates a protein needed that is faulty or not present, gene therapy has the ability to introduce a copy of that specific gene to restore the function of the protein within that gene.

Gene therapy is term that offers a wide range of treatment types. These types of

Germ-line therapy is mostly used to cure inheritable diseases such as sickle-cell anemia and hemophilia to name a few, unfortunately this type of gene therapy is illegal in many countries. Furthermore, in somatic cell therapy they switch the “bad” gene for the “good” gene. Somatic cell therapy is not inheritable because it only effects that one patient’s other cells besides sex cells. This ultimately ends up as a safer method because it only affects the cells that are targeted. In somatic cell therapy, they use gene splicing, which is the focal point of genetic engineering. Gene splicing is where a gene is cut vertically and joined with another piece that is also cut vertically. After this is done and the new piece of DNA is formed a method called gene transfer is used to incorporate the new DNA into an organism’s cells. Somatic cell therapy is used to cure a number of disease including cancer and muscular dystrophy. “Gene therapy can simply depicted by using an analogy: all it is like taking one recipe from a cookbook and rewriting it to make it better and putting into different cookbook.” (agbiosafety.unl.edu) Indeed, genetic engineering is simply a method by which you physically extract a gene from an organism and put it into a different one, which gives that organism the power to convey that trait encoded by the gene.

Gene therapy pro-actively transfers new genes into a patient therefore treating or preventing the disease. Gene therapy protocols follow two paths. Somatic gene therapy is a process in which hybrid retro vector is inserted into the cell. The vector binds to the cell membrane, packages itself in the vesicle which breaks down releasing it into the nucleus. Retroviruses are vectors harnessed for this task because their RNA genetic information can easily be transcribed into DNA. Furthermore, retroviruses introduce enzymes like integrase into the cell. Integrase incorporates new genes into the genome of a host. However, integrase can insert the modified genetic material in any arbitrary position in the genome of the host leading to insertional mutagenesis, and possibly cancer (Gene Therapy Retrovirus). Alternatively, cloned DNA solution is physically injected into a solution of zygote pronuclei during germline gene therapy In this way, the zygote produced has modified DNA which is passed to future generations. Nevertheless, germline therapy has a low rate of transgene integration in which modified genes do not get incorporated into the genome of the zygotes (Smith Kevin

In the last two decades, gene therapy has improved from mental concepts to clinical trials and laboratory experiment. Gene therapy is a technique that is currently being tested to see if genes can be used to treat or prevent disease. This method can successfully be able to replace a mutated gene with a healthy copy, knock out a mutated gene that is not functioning and introduce a new type of gene in the body to help fight a disease a human being may have. Gene therapy is a work in progress system that basically inserts a “normal” genome to replace the gene that is “abnormal” and causes disease.

Gene therapy is an experimental treatment, which is used to replace mutated, improperly functioning genes with regular DNA. There are several gene therapy methods, most of which involve using a vector to transport the corrected gene into targeted cells. Retro viruses, adeno viruses, adeno ascosciated viruses and liposomes are commonly used as

Somatic gene therapy is genes that are fixed in just one person. The targeted cells are the only ones affected; these changes are not passed on to the person’s offspring. This is less controversial then genetic modification. Because the treatment is only done on a single person, instead of eradicating the whole disease all together. Somatic gene therapy is more

Once the researchers know that the infection has been successful, the cells can be infused back into the patient where, all being well, the therapeutic gene will be active and the genetic defect will be overcome. In the other type of gene therapy the vector is put directly into the patient. This is much more difficult because the patient's body senses the incoming vector as foreign and thus likely to be dangerous. The immune system will therefore try to destroy it and the immunological responses mounted by the body can be just as bad for the patient as a severe viral infection. Moreover, if the vector is injected into the bloodstream we cannot control where it goes and so it is possible that the therapeutic gene will end up in the wrong cells. There have been a number of trials of the first type of gene therapy for SCID and we can say that the treatment does not do the patients any harm; if all of the checks and tests are done properly, it is safe. It also seems that, in some cases at least, the patients improve, but a great deal of work still has to be done before we can be sure of

In short, gene therapy is a method in which DNA Is used to fix a genetic problem. These problems can include missing or genes that don’t work. The right genes are delivered to the cell via harmless viruses for their provirus properties. The viruses then insert the good copy of the gene into the patients DNA where the cells machinery reads the information like a manual and makes RNA proteins so when it divides, ideally, the problem will be fixed. There are two types f gene therapy: Germline (targets egg/sperm cells; stops disease in its tracks) and somatic (targets somatic cells; after the disease is active).The methods for gene therapy that are being tested include:

Gene therapy is a relatively new concept, it is an experimental technique that uses genes to theoretically treat and prevent various types of Illnesses/Genetic Disorders such as Haemophilia, Cancer, Chronic Granulomatous Disorder and Cystic Fibrosis. The process of gene therapy involves the use of a Viral Vector (Most Common Form) other forms of delivery which are non-viral include the injection of naked DNA, sonoporation and magnetofection.

Gene therapy is the introduction of nucleic acid, including DNA, RNA and their analogue into cells of living organism to treat diseases. This is occurred through modifying expression of gene of interests, triggering alteration of certain biological functions.

Genetic engineering is defined as the deliberate modification of the characteristics of an organism by manipulating its genetic material (Webster). There are other forms of genetic modification such as gene therapy. Gene therapy and genetic engineering are often used synonymously, but they are vastly different in many aspects. Genetic engineering is changing the person permanently on the genetic level. Gene therapy, on the other hand, is the use of drugs to improve how the gene does its job. In other words, genetic engineering is a one-time treatment that permanently changes a person's genes, but gene therapy is a temporary fix using medication. This is done by injecting one of several gene editing systems into the patient. The three most popular are Zinc