gene therapy

Gene therapy offers a new treatment paradigm for curing human disease.
Rather than altering the disease phenotype by using agents who interact
with gene products, or are themselves gene products, gene therapy can
theoretically modify specific genes resulting in disease cure following
a single administration. Initially gene therapy was envisioned for the
treatment of genetic disorders, but is currently being studied in a
wide range of diseases, including cancer, peripheral vascular disease,
arthritis, neurodegenerative disorders and other acquired diseases.

Even though the range of gene therapy strategies is quite diverse,
certain key elements are required for a successful gene therapy
strategy (i.e. cloning). The most elementary of these is that the
relevant gene must be identified and cloned. Upon completion of the
Human Genome Project, gene availability will be unlimited, but until
then the starting point for any gene therapy strategy remains gene
identification and c...