Gene Therapy to Treat Diseases?
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 at
6:23 am
Lets go Chargers Lets go Bears asked:
How would gene therapy treat these two diseases. Cystic fibrosis and parkinson disease???? I’m looking for information that will describe the treatment using an animal model for testing… but i’m willing to take any information.
Tagged with: Animal Model • Cystic Fibrosis • Parkinson Disease
Filed under: Cystic Fibrosis
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belive in god
there are no cures for cystic fibrosis or parkinson’s.
parkinson’s is treated with wellness maintenance, physiotherapy, exercise, and nutrition. For cystic fibrosis the only way to prevent or cure it would be with gene therapy at an early age. Ideally, gene therapy could repair or replace the defective gene. Another option for treatment would be to give a person with Cystic Fibrosis the active form of the protein product that is scarce or missing. These methods haven’t been proven to be completely effective.
People suffering from cystic fibrosis lack a gene needed to produce a salt-regulating protein. This protein regulates the flow of chloride into epithelial cells, (the cells that line the inner and outer skin layers) which cover the air passages of the nose and lungs. Without this regulation, patients with cystic fibrosis build up a thick mucus that makes them prone to lung infections. A gene therapy technique to correct this abnormality might employ an adenovirus to transfer a normal copy of what scientists call the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator, or CTRF, gene. The gene is introduced into the patient by spraying it into the nose or lungs.