Biology Newsfeed

[Feature] Gene therapy gets a high-stakes test

ScienceNOW - Fetched: April 14th, 2016, 3:00pm UTC

A U.K. team is designing a clinical trial even more radical than prenatal stem cell therapy: the first ever test of gene therapy in pregnancy. The treatment aims to correct fetal growth restriction, in which blood flow to the placenta falters. Gene therapy has had a checkered history in children and adults, with side effects including cancer and at least one death. So rather than introduce new genes to the fetus itself, the team is targeting a blood flow–promoting gene to the uterine arteries. Author: Jennifer Couzin-Frankel

Read more

Return to the Newsfeed