Current research methods of transfection, delivering foreign DNA into cells, have capitalized on using non-viral vectors because of the recent advantages researchers have been able to exploit. The process of transfecting cells runs into a number of problems by way of the cell’s own defense mechanisms. Vectors must be able to not only enter the cell past the cell’s membrane but also must be able to make its way into the cell’s nucleus to access the targeted genetic material. The problem with traditional transfection methods is that they are not able to enter the cell in high efficiency without triggering an immune response. This, coupled with the inability for prolonged gene expression in vivo even once transfected, results in a very expensive and ineffective method for introducing a foreign plasmid into the cell. In the past viral vectors had been used with a degree of success in vitro, but because they lack a high degree transfection efficiency and duration of gene expression using them for transfection could not produce substantial practical applications. Another problem is that these laboratory-engineered viruses had low success rates in vivo due to activating an immune response. New techniques are being discovered by modifying non-viral vectors in novel ways, producing increasingly effective methods for transporting DNA into cells with the hope of clinical application and advancing gene therapy.
Research done by Figueroa et al. (2013) has turned up an advance in the method of non-viral gene delivery utilizing gold nanoparticles (AuNP). In their work they have developed an exceptionally efficient way of transfection by experimentally improving certain desirable traits of the gold nanoparticle polyamidoamine (AuPAMAM) c...
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... of effectiveness when mTat and PEI are combined to take advantage of each vector’s positive traits for transfection. Cytotoxicity results from the mice transfected in vivo found that there was no significant difference in cell viability between mTat, PEI, or mTat/PEI complex. These results demonstrated the remarkable ability to significantly increase both the efficiency of transfection and gene expression in vivo without conferring any increase in cytotoxicity. Cell penetrating peptides (CPP), including mTat, have proven to be effective at crossing cell membranes quickly and are able to enter the cell based on their small and amphipathic nature (Bolhassani, 2011). By controlling the cargo CPP carries and the target it delivers it to, these carriers may hold a myriad of uses in vivo including selectively disrupting cancer cells and other gene therapy techniques.
Either transduction or transfection can be used to get the therapeutic genes into the patients system. Transfection is when the genes are introduced physically or chemically in a way that allows the cell membrane to be temporarily permeable to a foreign DNA. In the second method used for gene therapy, transduction, there is a beneficial gene added into the genetic material of the virus, which then is allowed to infect the target cell which is the indirect transfer method for gene therapy.
Gene therapy is an experimental technique that allows doctors to insert a gene into a patient’s cell rather than using drugs or surgery. Gene therapy is a process of which defective or undesired genes in the body with “normal” genes. A vector is re-engineered to deliver the gene to a target cell. Then the gene is transferred to the cell’s nucleus and must be activated in order to function. The main focus of gene therapy is to replace a lost or improper gene with a new functional copy into a vector that is inserted into the subject’s genome by way of penetrating its DNA. Gene therapy can be done outside of the body known as ex vivo by way of taking cells form patients bone marrow or blood and then growing them in a laboratory. Thus the corrected copy of the gene is inserted into the cells before being put back into the body. Gene therapy can also be done in vivo which can be done directly to the patient’s body. The word gene therapy really defines the management of genetic information that is encased in the cells, however, in most recent procedures the available technology is closely related in adding new genetic information, and many researchers favor the term gene transfer rather than gene therapy to mirror the reason that the purpose of gene work cannot always be therapeutic.
Gene therapy, a relatively new innovention, is becoming popular across the country. Gene therapy modifies a part of an organism, whereas cloning creates an entirely recreated organism. This technique can be conducted in vivo in either somatic or germ cells. The process is essentially aimed at fixing a genetic disorder or disease by inserting a functional gene to replace the faulty one (Houdebine 2003). Many methods to conduct a gene transfer have been tested. The two types are in vivo and in vitro. Transferring genes in vivo means placing the functional genes directly into the target tissue; while vitro transfers creates the genes outside of the body, in Petri dishes. Vitro is an expensive process that r...
Gene therapy works by introducing new and functioning genetic material to damaged genes to help it function and to produce beneficial proteins. If a gene is inserted directly into a cell, it usually will not function. So to complete this task, a vector, a modified virus is used to carry and deliver the new gene. There are two different categories of vectors than can be utilized in this process; recomb...
USA Today 127.2644 (1999): 28. " In Vivo Somatic Gene Therapy." Brown University. Web. 18 Nov. 2011.
Ethical issues also play a role in the selection of the solutions. Most patients perceive xenotransplantation as an acceptable alternative to transplantation of human organs in life-threatening situations provided the potential benefits outweigh any likely adverse effects on the animals. Xenotransplantation of organs from chimpanzees and baboons has been avoided, because of ethical concerns as chimpanzees are listed as endangered species and the fear of transmission of deadly viruses. Pigs are plentiful, quick to mature, breed well in captivity, have large litters, and have vital organs roughly comparable in size to those of humans. Further there are physiologic similarities between their antibodies to human antibodies, and also since they are already being used in the consumer market, organs have been mainly harvested from pigs. Humans have had prolonged and close contact with pigs, their use for the purpose of xenotransplantation is believed to be less likely to introduce any new infectious agents. Porcine islet cells of Langerhans have been injected into patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus. Porcine skin has been grafted onto burn patients, and pig neuronal cells have been transplanted into patients with Parkinson’s disease and Huntington’s disease.
Genetic engineering is now being used to create new medicines and therapies for many disorders and diseases, and also to improve agricultural plants and animals to produce bigger yields or enhanced nutrient composition and food quality. In Gene therapy, copies of healthy human genes produced in bacteria can be inserted into human cells with defective or missing genes, to fix the problem. Gene therapy is promising because it can use to treat genetic
Physicians today are faced with a growing list of patients awaiting transplants for organs that have failed, but there are not enough donors to meet these needs. Countries all over the world have a “human organ shortage” and the waiting lists for organ transplants only seem to grow longer (Melo 427). In the United States 62,000 patients needed a kidney, liver, or pancreatic transplant in the year 2001. Xenotransplantation, which refers to the transplantation of organs, cells, or tissues from animal species into human beings, has been heralded as a promising technology that will help us save more lives and lessen the dire shortage of transplantable organs.
Gene therapy focuses on the replacement of defective genes with modified functioning genes. Many diseases are caused by a defective gene meaning the body is incapable of producing essential proteins or enzymes. In its simplest form, gene therapy aims to identify the defective gene and fix this gene with the replacement of a normal gene (Senn).
"The aim is to decrease the fear of a brave new world and to encourage people to be more proactive about their health. It [Gene therapy] will help humans become better physically and even mentally and extend human life. It is the future” (Hulbert). Dr. Hulbert, a genetic engineer, couldn’t be anymore right; more time, money, and research needs to be put into gene therapy and genetic engineering, since it can cure certain illness and diseases that are incurable with modern medicine, has fewer side-effects than conventional drugs or surgery, and allows humans to be stronger physically and mentally at birth. Gene therapy or genetic engineering is the development and application of scientific methods, procedures, and technologies that permit direct manipulation of genetic material in order to alter the hereditary traits of a cell, organism, or population (NIH). It essentially means that we can change DNA to make an organism better. Genetic engineering is used with animals and plants every day; for example with genetic...
To create a clone is to create identical copy. This imprecise definition can be tied to a number of creatures and processes in biology, those including, mono zygote (identical) twins (when one fertilized egg splits into two embryos in the first week of fertilization) , horticulture (a section of plant being implanted in a different place to create a decedent of the original plant) , and parthenogenesis (the method of asexual reproduction by females.) The creatures and processes listed above all fall under the category clones and cloning, but the difference between these and the clones and cloning processes normally referenced in, for example, science fiction, is where they occur. The examples listed are naturally occurring clones and cloning techniques, regarded as biology clones, whereas the other type of clones and cloning occurs artificially or in laborites. This genre of cloning is cloning in biotechnology. This cloning specifically refers to three established techniques: reproductive cloning, therapeutic cloning, and gene cloning. From observing the biological, naturally occurring cloning, scientists were able to create methods for created clones that are created in the laboratory intentionally. Although clones created through biotechnology are commonly associated with fantasy and science fiction, cloning animals with biotechnology is no fiction. There are even examples of animals being somewhat successfully cloned by scientists such as the lionized Dolly the Sheep. This type of technology even has the potential to clone humans, or extinct animals. Even though scientist have advanced technology and knowledge on cloning, the topic of whether or not this technology should be used is controversial. Despite the controversy and p...
Infection control, a term that describes procedures taken to reduce the spread of infection. The dental office is a place where many people are treated including patients with infectious disease such as tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and many other highly contagious diseases. It is imperative that in any dental office setting the prevention of the spreading microorganisms from patient to patient, patient to staff, or staff to patient is done in high precaution. Infection control has two main objectives; to protect the patients from harmful pathogens as well as dental team members. Infections can cause or add pain, deteriorate a persons health, and in worst cases even result in death. In order to understand the infection control in a dental facility, you must understand the standard precautions required by organizations that regulate or recommend infection control, the kinds of preventive measures taken, as well as when these measures should be taken.
“Everyday ten minutes, someone is added to the national waiting list.” “On average 20 people die each day while waiting for a transplant.” There are many people who die each day. They’re put on waiting lists but there are so many people ahead of them that an individual might never get the chance of a transplant. That could all change with xenotransplantation.
With the goal of improving the quality and effectiveness of patient care, biomedical engineers design instruments, devices, and software. In spite of the power biomedical engineers carry, they are also left with a mountain of challenges. To overcome to the problem plenty of biomedical engineers are faced with today, Robert Langer, an American engineer and an Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, stated that certain methods are unacceptable owing to the fact that they are inhumane. Langer and his team were working on polymers that could deliver DNA as efficiently as viruses. The only problem with this procedure was that the viruses may have dangerous side effects and have been responsible for deaths in some gene-therapy trials. “So far, the problem has been that such "synthetic vectors" have been far less efficient in carrying out the delivery,” Langer states, “But in early tests. . . some polymers have been as effective at delivering the DNA strands to their target as the viruses, but with 100 times less toxicity” (Par. 9). Langer and his team were able to maneuver different techniques to avoid undesirable procedures so they may be tolerable to the
What are the principle, ethical issues and experimental procedures used in genetic engineering and cloning? Should Cloning be allowed to continue?