Current Gene Therapy - Volume 6, Issue 6, 2006

Morbidity and mortality attributed to diseases of the heart and blood vessels are growing steadily around the globe, as a result of changing lifestyles and increased longevity. Even in affluent countries many patients with cardiovascular syndromes do not benefit from current conventional therapies. Failure of drugs, catheter-based, and surgical interventions leaves millions of patients in a great need for new therapies. Cell Read More

Ex vivo gene therapy is a possible treatment for several muscular dystrophies. The best transgene to be expressed and the appropriate cell type to be used currently remain the subject of many investigations. The most adequate gene modification technique also remains to be established. Different transgenes have already been tested in animal models and transgenic mice. Several cell types were evaluated during the last Read More

The C31 integrase system represents a novel technology that opens up new possibilities for gene therapy. The C31 integrase can integrate introduced plasmid DNA into preferred locations in unmodified mammalian genomes, resulting in robust, long-term expression of the integrated transgene. This review describes the nature of the integration reaction and the genomic integration sites used by the enzyme in human Read More

Conventional cancer treatments are often hampered by a lack of tumour selectivity, resulting in toxicity to healthy tissue. Gene-directed enzyme prodrug therapy (GDEPT) is a suicide gene therapy approach that aims to improve the selectivity of chemotherapy by enabling cancer cells to convert non-cytotoxic prodrugs to cytotoxic drugs. Many enzyme/ prodrug systems have been described, some of which have already b Read More

Under physiologically relevant conditions, the levels of non-viral gene transfer are low at best. The reason for this is that many barriers exist for the efficient transfer of genes to cells, even before any gene expression can occur. While many transfection strategies focus on DNA condensation and overcoming the plasma membrane, events associated with the intracellular trafficking of the DNA complexes have not been as extensiv Read More

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have unique properties of self-renewal, differentiation and proliferation. HSCs are easily accessible, and can be readily delivered back to patients by autologous transplantation, which renders them as attractive targets for ex vivo gene therapy. The adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors have to date not been associated with any malignant disease, and have gained attention as a potentially Read More