Using tiny snippets of DNA as «barcodes,» researchers have developed a new technique for rapidly screening the ability of nanoparticles to selectively
deliver therapeutic genes to specific organs of the body.
Scientists have coaxed the immune system of mice to let down its guard and allow a virus to
deliver therapeutic genes.
But the small viruses that
deliver therapeutic genes can have adverse side effects at high doses.
This fact is rooted in a packaging problem: the gene encoding FIX is much smaller than the gene for FVIII, and better fits into a vector, usually a harmless virus, designed to
deliver therapeutic genes to a patient.
The problem, Sweeney says, is that the viruses researchers use for
delivering therapeutic genes infect primates but not other mammals.
A carrier called a vector must be used to
deliver the therapeutic gene to the patient's target cells.
Here, the researchers
delivered a therapeutic gene along with a short hairpin RNA (shRNA) into liver cells in mice.
Not exact matches
To use viruses as delivery vehicles for
gene therapy, researchers take all the harmful and replicative
genes out of the virus and put in the
therapeutic genes they want to
deliver.
In a one - two punch, he would deploy microorganisms to dismantle and haul out the molecular trash while
delivering engineered
gene and
therapeutic cells to refurbish cells that have died out and gone unreplaced.
Targeted
gene therapies, however, had to wait for (1) the identification of the
genes to target, (2) the cloning and / or sequencing of the relevant
genes and in some cases, the specific disease - causing variant, (3) a full understanding of the normal
gene function and regulation, and (4) the development of efficient ways to
deliver genes to the relevant tissues at
therapeutic levels.
A DNA - covered submicroscopic bead used to
deliver genes or drugs directly into cells to treat disease appears to have
therapeutic...
He is one of the world's leading authorities in
gene therapy, having developed a
gene therapy vector, based on a stripped - down version of HIV, that successfully
delivers genes for
therapeutic purposes.
In this trial, the
therapeutic genes are transported within tiny fat bubbles, called liposomes, which can ooze through the cell membrane to
deliver their genetic cargo.
Successful application depends on two key principles: identifying an appropriate
therapeutic gene and successfully
delivering it to the target site while maintaining its efficacious properties (e.g., for
gene expression).
Fundamental Science Overview
Gene and gene - modified cell therapies treat diseases by delivering therapeutic DNA into a patient's cells, either in (in vivo) or outside his or her body (ex vi
Gene and
gene - modified cell therapies treat diseases by delivering therapeutic DNA into a patient's cells, either in (in vivo) or outside his or her body (ex vi
gene - modified cell therapies treat diseases by
delivering therapeutic DNA into a patient's cells, either in (in vivo) or outside his or her body (ex vivo).
Once a suitable
therapeutic gene is identified, it must be effectively
delivered to target cells.
B's ability to
deliver potentially
therapeutic genes in disease models.
Duan also provided significant expertise from a long history of work on
gene therapy for neuromuscular disorders.To use viruses as delivery vehicles for
gene therapy, researchers take all the harmful and replicative
genes out of the virus and put in the
therapeutic genes they want to
deliver.