Gene Therapy

by Naff, Clay Farris

• ISBN13: 9780737719673
• ISBN10: 0737719672
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-11-01
• Publisher: Greenhaven Pr

Summary

The dawn of gene therapy heralds great promise for medical progress, as well as great concern about potential abuse. This anthology charts the discoveries and the blind alleys, the bold experiments and the misguided fiascos, and the hype and hysteria along the path to gene-therapy cures.

Table of Contents

Foreword	11	(3)
Introduction	14	(10)
Chapter 1: Understanding and Manipulating Genes
1. Understanding Heredity
by George W. Burns	24	(8)
Humans have long observed that offspring tend to resemble their parents, but the workings of heredity remained a mystery until Gregor Mendel identified genes in 1866.
2. From the Discovery of Genes to the Mapping of Genomes
by Dinshaw Dadachanji	32	(9)
The Augustinian monk Gregor Mendel realized that heredity operates through invisible units, which eventually came to be called genes. Scientists built on his work, eventually mapping the human genome.
3. Discovering the Structure of DNA
by James D. Watson, interviewed by John Rennie	41	(7)
In the 1950's two brash young scientists cracked the mystery of how life makes copies of vital information about itself. Fifty years later, the younger of the two reviews the discovery and discusses the scientific advances it made possible.
4. An Introduction to Gene Therapy
by David Petechuk	48	(9)
The rapidly growing field of gene therapy has the potential to cure diseases and to correct genetic defects before they are passed on to future generations.
Chapter 2: The Road to Success
1. The First Human Gene Therapy Trial
by Jeff Lyon and Peter Gorner	57	(9)
In 1989 surgeon W. French Anderson performed the first gene therapy trial on a terminally ill cancer patient. The patient died less than a year later, but doctors were sufficiently encouraged by the results to continue gene therapy research.
2. The First Genuine Success
by W. French Anderson, interviewed by Kathleen McAuliffe	66	(7)
A pioneer in the gene therapy field recounts his success in helping a four-year-old girl with an immune system disorder regain her health.
3. Injecting Genes to Curb Prostate Cancer
by Kambra McConnel	73	(3)
A gene therapy procedure originally undertaken in 2001 has proven useful in the fight against advanced prostate cancer. The therapy employs genes that stimulate the body's immune system to direct its killer cells toward the site of the cancer.
4. Swapping Out Bad Genes to Prevent Mitochondria) Disease
by Nell Boyce	76	(4)
Gene therapy offers the possibility of correcting defects in mitochondria, but because this means altering the course of heredity for all future generations in the afflicted family, the procedure is controversial.
5. Helping Children Born Without Immunity
by Steve Connor	80	(5)
Despite drastic efforts to protect children born without an immune system, sooner or later they die of infection. However, the success of a gene therapy treatment conducted on a young girl provides hope that such children can be cured.
6. Treating Deafness with Gene Therapy
by Michael Hoffman	85	(3)
A common cause of deafness is the loss of special hairs inside the ear that transfer vibrations in the air to the eardrum. Animal experiments conducted in 2003 show that gene therapy can stimulate the growth of new auditory hairs, thereby curing deafness.
7. A New Tactic to Fight Parkinson's Disease
by Michael Kaplitt and Theodore Friedmann, interviewed by Ira Flatow	88	(8)
An August 2003 attempt to cure Parkinson's disease with gene therapy stirs both hope and controversy. A member of the surgical team explains why he believes the treatment might prove successful while a pediatrician and bioethicist presents his concerns about the safety of the procedure.
8. Hope for Victims of Lou Gehrig's Disease
by Carey Goldberg	96	(3)
Experiments conducted in 2003 raise hopes that gene therapy can significantly slow the progress of Lou Gehrig's disease, which destroys the central nervous system.
9. Gene Therapy and Immortality
by Susan McCarthy	99	(10)
Some scientists now believe that gene therapy will one day be used to prevent aging and death. Others say the idea of cheating death is preposterous.
Chapter 3: The Road Turns Bumpy
1. Gene Therapy Research: Juggling Business and Science
by Joshua Kurlantzick	109	(12)
A group of scientists who started a small biotech firm to work on gene therapy treatments for cancer discover that acquiring a continuous flow of capital to finance research threatens to undermine the research itself.
2. A Gene Therapy Trial Ends in Death and Scandal
by Debra Nelson and Rick Weiss	121	(10)
Teenager Jesse Gelsinger was managing his rare liver disorder and leading a fairly normal life. Aware that others were not so fortunate, however, he volunteered for a gene therapy experiment, which cost him his life.
3. When Gene Therapy Kills: A Father's Grief
by Paul Gelsinger interviewed by Stone Phillips	131	(9)
The father of a teen who died during a gene therapy trial in 1999 explains that although he supported the surgical team immediately after his son's death, he eventually came to question the procedure and the motives of scientists who conducted the deadly trial.
4. Unreliable Viruses Stall Gene Therapy Research
by Eliot Marshall	140	(6)
Concern about the risk of using viruses to transport genes and allegations of misconduct by researchers carrying out human trials has harmed the budding field of gene therapy.
5. Improving the Safety of Gene Therapy Trials
by Jay P. Siegel	146	(9)
The doctor in charge of the Food and Drug Administration's gene therapy regulation office reports that the FDA is working to make gene therapy trials safer after the death of a healthy eighteen-year-old raised safety concerns.
6. Some Gene Therapy Trials Resume While Others Remain Frozen
by Raja Mishra	155	(4)
After suspending gene therapy trials on human subjects in December 2002 following the outbreak of cancer in two young patients, the U.S. Food and Drug Ad-ministration later granted permission for some trials to resume.
7. A Heart Treatment Revives Hopes for Gene Therapy
by Marilynn Marchione	159	(7)
A successful treatment for heart disease involving genes that stimulate the growth of blood vessels has breathed new life into the gene therapy field.
Chapter 4: The Ethics of Gene Therapy
1. Ethical Issues Surrounding Gene Therapy
by Catherine Baker	166	(10)
Gene therapy raises many ethical dilemmas. Especially contentious is whether gene therapy should be used to augment children's physical and mental capabilities.
2. A Legal Perspective on Genetic Ethics
by Maxwell J. Mehlman	176	(12)
As gene therapy becomes mainstream, courts will be called on to resolve a host of ethical dilemmas. Looming large among these are questions about who will have access to new treatments and who will be responsible for their costs.
3. Playing God: Genes and Theology
by Audrey R. Chapman	188	(9)
According to the director of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Project on Dialogue, major religions generally hold a positive view of gene therapy procedures used to relieve suffering.
4. Gene Therapy's Threat to Equality
by Francis Fukuyama	197	(6)
Gene therapy has raised concerns that affluent people may one day be able to pay to have their children genetically engineered for success. Such a development could create a permanent barrier between the haves and have-nots, thereby undermining democracy.
5. Gene Therapy's Contribution Toward Equality
by Gregory Stock	203	(8)
A noted biophysicist predicts that gene therapy will prove more successful in providing cures for genetic defects and diseases than in allowing the wealthy to engineer "superkids." He thus believes that gene therapy will lead to a more egalitarian society.
Chronology	211	(5)
For Further Research	216	(3)
Index	219