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In Remembrance
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 3,904
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In Remembrance
Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Florida
Posts: 3,904
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...and more questions
Gene therapy using adeno-associated virus linked to liver cancer in mice
By Caroline Arbanas
July 26, 2007 -- Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found further evidence linking a method used to deliver gene therapy in humans with the development of liver tumors in mice.
The new research, published in the July 27 journal Science, suggests that ferrying a corrective gene into mice using a disabled virus - an adeno-associated virus (AAV) - inadvertently inserts mutations into the mouse DNA that initiate tumor growth. The same delivery method is also used in some gene therapy clinical trials in humans, but as of yet no studies have found an association between the AAV vector and cancer in patients.
Still, the Washington University scientists, led by Mark Sands, Ph.D., associate professor of medicine and genetics, say the data in the team's latest study raise important safety concerns about the use of AAV vectors in patients receiving experimental gene therapy. "While the findings do not eliminate AAV as a potential therapeutic tool, more research is needed to determine the possible long-term toxicity of the AAV vector in humans," Sands cautions.
more at:
http://mednews.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/9733.html
__________________
paula
"Time is not neutral for those who have pd or for those who will get it."
Last edited by paula_w; 07-27-2007 at 08:58 PM.
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