Doubts raised about drugs based on RNAi
 

New study urges caution over revolutionary gene treatment

by Richard Ingham Wed Mar 26, 3:40 PM ET
Read entire article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080326...c4.fFX_1is0NUE

PARIS (AFP) - A US research team on Wednesday urged strong caution over a prototype gene treatment that has generated billions of dollars in investment as a hoped-for cure for cancer, diabetes and other diseases.
ADVERTISEMENT

The team said they had made the surprising discovery that the therapy has a generalised effect of blocking blood-vessel growth, a phenomenon that could harm a wide range of tissues.

The method, rooted in a 1998 breakthrough that earned the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 2006, is one of several to use so-called gene silencing.