tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post720821289963913051..comments2024-02-29T03:57:00.088-05:00Comments on The Mermaid's Tale: Gene therapy -- a technological challenge, but we're good at meeting technological challengesAnne Buchananhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-45900487274040878492013-12-08T18:49:00.921-05:002013-12-08T18:49:00.921-05:00News today about successful gene therapy for bloo...<a href="http://www.nbcnews.com/health/gene-therapy-scores-big-wins-against-blood-cancers-2D11708740" rel="nofollow">News </a> today about successful gene therapy for blood cancers. Anne Buchananhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09212151396672651221noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1812431336777691886.post-72698269691564553302013-12-06T12:29:42.188-05:002013-12-06T12:29:42.188-05:00Thank you for the informative post. Won't it b...Thank you for the informative post. Won't it be too difficult to get these therapies approved by clinical trial, because not only they are introducing foreign objects into the body fluids (~'drug/medicine') but also changing an internal part of the body (~'surgery' at the molecular level)? Both of those will have to be independently tested for long-term effects, and then one needs to ensure that their combination does not pose any additional problem.<br /><br />For example -<br /><br />"The idea in general is that a harmful sequence could be detected, the DNA cut at this point, and a 'good' sequence inserted to replace the harmful part."<br /><br />- how would one ensure that the 'surgery' stayed local and another part of the DNA also did not get cut? Or the surgery did not start another chain reaction leading to rejection/inflammation/cancer 5 years down the road?<br /><br /><br />I guess we are far away from asking such questions, but just wondering.<br /><br />Manoj Samantahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04264467983614167240noreply@blogger.com