Gene Therapy Cures "Bubble Boy"

[goofyfish]

NewScientist.com news service -17:00 03 April 02–

Gene therapy has cured Welsh baby Rhys Evans of the fatal "bubble boy" disease. "His progress seems nothing short of a miracle," says his mother Marie. Another boy treated more recently continues to improve... The treatment, carried out at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital, is one of only a handful of successful gene therapy trials in people. It is also only the third trial of gene therapy for severe combined immunodeficiency or SCID. (Full text here ( http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99992124))Although the retrovirus use bothers me a bit, overall the accomplishment is pretty damn cool.

Peace.

[John Devers]

Any ideas on how gene theropy works?

Do you or could you drop a pill?

Is something injected into the body?

Does the process attack and change part of our DNA?

[Pine_net]

Gene Therapy Information (http://www.ornl.gov/hgmis/medicine/genetherapy.html)

[Brett Bellmore]

Man, that's really got to have Jeremy Rifkin's head spinning like a top! :p Genetic treatments actually saving lives is his worst nightmare, because he knows people won't reject genetic engineering with the benefits staring them in the face in the form of a cute little kid.