Gene Thearapy: The Usage of Gene as Medicine

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Introduction The usage of genes as medicine give rise to the concept of 'Gene Therapy'. In the process of Gene therapy, a defective gene copy is repaired by transmitting therapeutic gene copy into those cells of an individual. So thereby, a faulty gene could be replaced or a medical condition may be corrected by introducing a new gene. Gene therapy has a promising future as it is powerful enough to treat many genetic conditions and also other deathly disease like AIDS, cancer etc. Though the potential of "gene therapy" is realized and recognized, it remains still on an experimental level and needs to worked on before accepting as the best solution. Gene therapy was put into practical use for treating immune deficiency disease called "adenosine deaminase" ADA deficiency in 1990s. This is when the gene transmittal of "corrective genes" into stem cells happened for the first time in practice. Method The task of making gene therapy to work yielding positive results is substantial. In order to put it to practical use, firstly we must understand well the defect in question and locate the faulty genes in the system. In addition to that, the identified defectives genes should be accessible, the appropriate healthy gene set or curative gene set should be made available and lastly a way to transmit this gene to that defective area must be clearly constructed. The final part is the most challenging procedure in the process of gene therapy. "Gene Delivery" denotes how to make the curative gene reach the defective area. Few of these vectors would assist us in the problem of 'gene delivery'. a) Harmless viruses A favorable method for "gene transfer" would be using harmless viruses as carriers of genes into cells. This method is not... ... middle of paper ... ...s, designed personalities, master races, or Frankenstein monsters will be created can be given no credence in the light of what is presently known. The best insurance against possible abuse is well-informed public. With proper safeguards offered by the scientific society, this powerful therapeutic procedure would provide great benefits reducing the sufferings and death caused by genetic disorders Works Cited [1] Aiuti A, Cattaneo F, Galimberti S et al. (2009) Gene therapy for immunodeficiency due to adenosine deaminase deficiency. New England [2] Journal of Medicine 360:447-458. [3] The Gene Therapy Research Unit, The Children’s Hospital, Westmead, Australia [online]. [4] Available from: http://www.chw.edu.au/prof/services/genetherapy/ [Accessed Feb 2014]. [5] http://www.extremetech.com/ [Accessed Mar 2014]. [6] http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/therapy/ethics

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