somatic gene therapy


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Related to somatic gene therapy: somatic cell gene therapy

somatic gene therapy

An experimental method of cloning genes and reintroducing them into cells for the purpose of correcting inherited disease. As this form of therapy develops so do ethical questions concerning its use: what diseases should be treated, and whether an individual could be treated to enhance his or her normal condition (e.g., to become a stronger or faster athlete).
See also: gene therapy

somatic gene therapy

Genetic treatment that affects only the SOMATIC cells and thus is limited in its effect to the individual treated. The alternative form-genetic treatment affecting the germ cells in the ovaries or testicles-may be perpetuated through succeeding generations. For this reason it is generally prohibited.

Somatic gene therapy

The introduction of genes into tissue or cells to treat a genetic related disease in an individual.
Mentioned in: Gene Therapy
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References in periodicals archive ?
In 1990, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) approved somatic gene therapy trials, but said that it would not accept proposals for germline manipulation "at present." That ambiguous decision did little to discourage advocates of germline engineering, who continued to perfect their technologies using animal models and human somatic gene therapy trials.
In The Pipeline: Genetically Modified Humans?
Although the most direct relevance of these new techniques will undoubtedly be for somatic gene therapy, entrepreneurs of the body will certainly see the economic implications of inserting genes into skin cells.
My body, my factory
The present invention further discloses a method for somatic gene therapy, which can be used for various therapeutic applications and involves introducing a gene of interest contained within the retroviral genome into human repopulating stem cells followed by introducing these cells into a human host.
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital obtains United States patent
Somatic gene therapy basically uses a gene as a drug.
The future of molecular genetic testing
This work represents "a genuine step forward in the slow road to successful somatic gene therapy," comments David Weatherall in an editorial that appears in the same issue.
Gene therapy takes on cholesterol defect
The research points to the possibility of stimulating genetically defective liver cells to produce normal proteins by using custom-crafted viruses as genetic delivery vehicles --a process known as somatic gene therapy.
Gene therapy takes aim at liver, lungs

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