Gene Therapy News and Research

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Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses genes to treat or prevent disease. In the future, this technique may allow doctors to treat a disorder by inserting a gene into a patient’s cells instead of using drugs or surgery.

Proof of principle that it is possible to deliver new genes body-wide to all the muscles of an adult animal

MDA-supported researchers at the University of Washington-Seattle have delivered the gene for the dystrophin protein to all voluntary muscles with a single intravenous injection in mice with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD).

29 Jul 2004

$1.6 million to develop gene therapy strategies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal, childhood-onset disease

The Muscular Dystrophy Association has announced it has awarded $1.6 million to Asklepios, a biotechnology company closely allied with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, to develop gene therapy strategies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a fatal, childhood-onset disease.

23 Jul 2004

Strategic analysis of the breast cancer therapeutics pipeline

Strategic partnerships between the pharmaceuticals industry and the biotechnology sector are making breast cancer therapeutics one of the most dynamic segments in the overall oncology market.

15 Jul 2004

First successful gene therapy that mimics the action of calcium channel blockers

Their findings - published in the latest edition of Circulation Research, online July 8 - may lead to a gene therapy alternative to calcium channel blockers and their sometimes severe side effects, but also further interest in the development of gene therapies unique - as in this case - to one particular organ.

10 Jul 2004

Gene therapy may provide a treatment for a group of incurable, progressive neurological diseases called polyglutamine-repeat diseases

Researchers from the University of Iowa have have shown for the first time that gene therapy delivered to the brains of living mice can prevent the physical symptoms and neurological damage caused by an inherited neurodegenerative disease that is similar to Huntington's disease (HD).

5 Jul 2004

Launch of the Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies

Mattel Children's Hospital at UCLA announced the launch of the Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies at UCLA June 28.

29 Jun 2004

Genetically engineering viruses to carry a suicide gene into ovarian cancer cells

Genetically engineering viruses to carry a suicide gene into ovarian cancer cells could become a potent way to tackle the disease, a leading Cancer Research UK scientist reveals at a conference in Glasgow today (Tuesday).

22 Jun 2004

Stimulation or drugs that target the pro-opiomelanocortin system will be effective in treating diabetes or obesity

There’s more than one way to slim a cat - at least that’s the hope of University of Florida obesity researchers, who believe pets and even people may someday benefit from gene therapy research aimed at breaking through the biochemical bottleneck that makes many middle-aged mammals gain weight.

17 Jun 2004

Harmless virus known as GBV-C slows the progression of HIV

Iowa City Veterans Affairs (VA) Medical Center and University of Iowa (UI) researchers have unlocked part of the mystery of how a harmless virus known as GBV-C slows the progression of HIV and prolongs survival for many patients.

17 Jun 2004

More precise and less invasive procedure for prostate cancer detection

Work by a University of Queensland researcher will make the trip to the doctor for a prostate cancer check a lot more appealing for men.

17 Jun 2004

Neuroscientists have overcome a major obstacle in gene therapy research

Northwestern University neuroscientists have overcome a major obstacle in gene therapy research. They've devised a method that will safely deliver and regulate expression of therapeutic genes introduced into the central nervous system to treat Parkinson's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

5 Jun 2004

Breakthrough in gene therapy

Despite a roller-coaster ride of ups and downs during the past 15 years, gene therapy has continued to attract many of the world's brightest scientists. They are tantalized by the enormous potential that replacing missing genes or disabling defective ones offers for curing diseases of many kinds.

3 Jun 2004

Engineered virus could be ideal for targeting cancers with lethal gene therapy

Scientists from Cancer Research UK have taken advantage of the selfish behaviour of cancer cells to target them with a genetically engineered virus.

1 Jun 2004

$3.5 million grant to develop AIDS vaccinations

Researchers at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI) and the Oregon National Primate Research Center at Oregon Health & Science University have received a $3.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop new methods for vaccinating humans against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS.

25 May 2004

X-ray beams could kick start genes into fighting cancer

X-ray beams could kick start genes into fighting cancer as an exciting new way of targeting therapy against the disease, according to new research in the Journal of Gene Medicine.

25 May 2004

Using gene therapy to fight rheumatoid arthritis

Guided by a similar principle, arthritis researchers at the University of Florida and Harvard University hope to use gene therapy to help joint cells pump out a harmless protein that parks in receptor sites, leaving a notorious inflammatory agent “circling the lot” and unable to cause pain, swelling and possible joint damage.

21 May 2004

Benitec acquires Avocel to focus on rapid development of hepatitis C therapeutics

Benitec Ltd. today announced the acquisition of Avocel, Inc. of Sunnyvale, CA, a leading RNAi therapeutics company, and the establishment of its wholly-owned US subsidiary, Benitec, Inc. Through the acquisition, Benitec gains its first in-house advanced therapeutic development program using DNA-directed RNAi (ddRNAi) to target the Hepatitis C virus.

18 May 2004

Genetically engineered viruses may create new class of cancer therapies

A genetically engineered virus can selectively kill cancerous cells in the lung and colon while leaving healthy cells intact, according to new research published today in Cancer Research by William Wold and colleagues at Saint Louis University School of Medicine.

15 May 2004

3 people with drug-resistant HIV become first to undergo a new form of gene therapy

The idea is to use a modified form of HIV to deliver an "antisense" gene to the immune cells that HIV infects. This is integrated into the cells' genome, and stays there until a cell is infected. Then it is switched on, and produces RNA complementary to the "sense" RNA encoding a viral protein. In theory, the RNAs should bind together, blocking viral replication.

14 May 2004

New way by which cells can become cancerous may solve mystery with lung cancer

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are describing an entirely new way by which cells can become cancerous. And they say their finding provides an answer to a mystery in lung and other cancers.

8 May 2004

Gene Therapy News and Research

Further Reading

Proof of principle that it is possible to deliver new genes body-wide to all the muscles of an adult animal

$1.6 million to develop gene therapy strategies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a fatal, childhood-onset disease

Strategic analysis of the breast cancer therapeutics pipeline

First successful gene therapy that mimics the action of calcium channel blockers

Gene therapy may provide a treatment for a group of incurable, progressive neurological diseases called polyglutamine-repeat diseases

Launch of the Jeffrey Modell Diagnostic Center for Primary Immunodeficiencies

Genetically engineering viruses to carry a suicide gene into ovarian cancer cells

Stimulation or drugs that target the pro-opiomelanocortin system will be effective in treating diabetes or obesity

Harmless virus known as GBV-C slows the progression of HIV

More precise and less invasive procedure for prostate cancer detection

Neuroscientists have overcome a major obstacle in gene therapy research

Breakthrough in gene therapy

Engineered virus could be ideal for targeting cancers with lethal gene therapy

$3.5 million grant to develop AIDS vaccinations

X-ray beams could kick start genes into fighting cancer

Using gene therapy to fight rheumatoid arthritis

Benitec acquires Avocel to focus on rapid development of hepatitis C therapeutics

Genetically engineered viruses may create new class of cancer therapies

3 people with drug-resistant HIV become first to undergo a new form of gene therapy

New way by which cells can become cancerous may solve mystery with lung cancer

Sensing a Healthier Future

Achieving and maintaining ISO/IEC 27001 and BS 10012 certifications

Expanding research and clinical options for children with cancer

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