Biology News Net - Gene Therapy

Gene therapy technique thwarts cancer by cutting off tumor blood supply

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 19:29:00 -0500

University of Florida researchers have come up with a new gene therapy method to disrupt cancer growth by using a synthetic protein to induce blood clotting that cuts off a tumor's blood and nutrient supply.

Gene therapy shows early promise for treating obesity

Mon, 09 Mar 2009 21:54:51 -0500

With obesity reaching epidemic levels, researchers at the Ohio State University Medical Center are studying a potentially long-term treatment that involves injecting a gene directly into one of the critical feeding and weight control centers of the brain.

Gene therapy shows promise as weapon against HIV

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 14:05:31 -0500

A new UCLA AIDS Institute study has found that gene therapy can be developed as a safe and active technique to combat HIV.

Gene therapy reversed heart damage in heart failure

Mon, 29 Dec 2008 16:32:13 -0500

Long-term gene therapy resulted in improved cardiac function and reversed deterioration of the heart in rats with heart failure, according to a recent study conducted by researchers at Thomas Jefferson University's Center for Translational Medicine. The study was published online in Circulation.

Gene therapy effective treatment against gum disease

Thu, 11 Dec 2008 21:55:24 -0500

Scientists at the University of Michigan have shown that gene therapy can be used to successfully stop the development of periodontal disease, the leading cause of tooth loss in adults.

UC Davis researchers exploring gene therapy to fight AIDS

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 14:27:09 -0500

The apparent success of a case in which German doctors cured a man of AIDS using a bone marrow transplant comes as no surprise to Gerhard Bauer, a UC Davis stem cell researcher. Bauer has been working for more than 10 years on a similar cure for AIDS based on replacing the devastated immune system of an HIV-infected patient with stem cells that have been engineered to resist human immunodeficiency syndrome.

Gene therapy corrects sickle cell disease in laboratory study

Wed, 03 Dec 2008 20:00:34 -0500

Using a harmless virus to insert a corrective gene into mouse blood cells, scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have alleviated sickle cell disease pathology. In their studies, the researchers found that the treated mice showed essentially no difference from normal mice. Although the scientists caution that applying the gene therapy to humans presents significant technical obstacles, they believe that the new therapy will become an important treatment for the disease.

Gene therapy restores vision to mice with retinal degeneration

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 19:35:47 -0500

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have used gene therapy to restore useful vision to mice with degeneration of the light-sensing retinal rods and cones, a common cause of human blindness. Their report, appearing in the Oct. 14 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes the effects of broadly expressing a light-sensitive protein in other neuronal cells found throughout the retina.

Gene therapy for chronic pain gets first test in people

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:03:56 -0500

The gene transfer vector (left) is injected into the skin in the area of pain (red line, right). From the skin, the vector is carried into sensory nerves and releases the inhibitory neurotransmitter locally in the spinal cord (red oval). Credit: University of Michigan This week, University of Michigan scientists will begin a phase 1 clinical trial for the treatment of cancer-related pain, using a novel gene transfer vector injected into the skin to deliver a pain-relieving gene to the nervous system.

Gene therapy involving antibiotics may help patients with Usher syndrome

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:30:15 -0500

A new approach to treating vision loss caused by Type 1 Usher syndrome (USH1), the most common condition affecting both sight and hearing, will be unveiled by a scientist at the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics tomorrow (Tuesday 3 June). Ms Annie Rebibo Sabbah, from the Genetics Department of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa, Israel, will tell the conference that preliminary results using a class of drugs called aminoglycosides, commonly used as antibiotics, had had promising effects in vitro and in cell culture.