Monday 2 December 2013

'Bubble kid' success puts gene therapy back on track

Children with SCID must live in a
sterile environment
The latest improvement in gene therapy is able to treat severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), also known as "Bubble Boy Syndrome" (Geddes, 2013). This technology was able to save Nina, a baby who had a low chance of surviving because she was born without an immune system. With the help of gene therapy, Nina's immune system fully recovered and she was able to live like any other normal child (Geddes, 2013). Gene therapy is a method of adding or replacing mutated genes with new or a healthy copy of genes (Genetics Home Reference, 2013). This can be accomplished by taking out the patient's blood or bone marrow, adding a new copy of genes to it, and then injecting the blood/bone marrow back to the bloodstream. The cells will mature and rapidly grow to eventually replace malfunctioned genes that caused the disease (Nienhuis, 2008). Gene therapy can cure many diseases such as sickle-cell anemia and hemophilia (Nienhuis, 2008).

I'm very impressed with this improvement because it is very safe and the patient doesn't have to undergo surgery or take any drugs. It can also be use to cure many disorders for a variety of ages. However, I am a bit concerned since gene therapy may cause leukaemia and a patient can die due to a reaction of a virus use in gene therapy (Geddes, 2013). Gene therapy can also be used for other purposes not associated with disease which may cause unethical issues. Do you think gene therapy should only be use for medical purposes or should this technology be allowed to be used for improving human features like height or intelligence?

Article: http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029413.200-bubble-kid-success-puts-gene-therapy-back-on-track.html

References
Geddes, L. (2013, October 30). 'Bubble kid' success puts gene therapy back on track. NewScientist. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22029413.200-bubble-kid-success-puts-gene-   therapy-back-on-track.html?full=true#.UpfgIMSsiCd

Nienhuis, A. (2008, May 13). How does gene therapy work?. Scientific American. Retrieved December 1, 2013, from http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=experts-  gene-therapy

What is gene therapy?. (2013, November 25). Genetics Home Reference. Retrieved December 2, 2013, from http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/therapy/genetherapy
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5 comments:

  1. Saffire9 December 2013 at 15:13

    I think that gene therapy is a very great technology that can save many lives and I think that it should only be used for medical purposes and not for improving things like our intelligence because if we did that then we would be too perfect and life would be very boring. This technology can be used to save the lives of people with diseases like hemophilia and sickle cell anemia. Although this would be great some people might disagree as gene therapy can only be done on sperm and egg cells, the child that it is being done on isn't born and can't choose if they want to go through with this therapy or not.

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  2. Anonymous10 December 2013 at 13:31

    I'm impressed that every year scientists find new ways to cure more diseases and help people and gene therapy is one of the most important technologies in saving lives. I think that gene therapy can also be used in improving some human features because it can make humans' lives more equal and fair. However, I'm concerned about the diseases and side effects caused by the treat and also how society might react to extending gene therapy. Besides, scientists sometimes fail in some cases but they still discover new things benefit from the technology but it has impact and problems to people who are being tested and not getting satisfying results.

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  3. Unknown10 December 2013 at 15:50

    In my opinion, gene therapy should only be used for medical purposes. Gene therapy has already committed a variety of medical wonders such as treating severe combined immunodeficiency and Leber’s congenital amaurosis, and promises an even brighter future. Social benefits of gene therapy include the restoration of one’s health or the prevention of a fatal disease replacing the harmful gene. However, my ethical concern is that the widespread use of gene therapy may make society less accepting of people who are different. This is also why I think that gene therapy should not be used to alter one’s physical appearance.

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  4. Unknown10 December 2013 at 16:47

    In my opinion, gene therapy should only be used for medical purposes because that is the initial purpose of this technique, rather than concentrating on the details of completely changing or “designing” humans by focusing on their features such as height, or traits such as intelligence. Problems can be caused due to reactions of a virus during this, so using this therapy to elaborate on extra details may initiate further problems/risks. People of different ages and with wide ranges of diseases can benefit from this as their conditions can be cured. It will help them socially as they can offer healthier genes to their future generations. These people can be given a life to live normally without having to suffer. Ethical issues that rise are that because of its expense, this technique can only be available for the rich and that many people might be less accepting of those who are different and don’t get gene therapy.

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  5. Unknown11 December 2013 at 08:08

    I think that gene therapy should only be used for medical purposes. Gene therapy is designed and improved to help a person's life when endangered. If it were to be used to fix or improve features in a human body that isn't endangering their lives, it would defeat the purpose of the therapy. Also if it were to be used for to improve features , such as height or intelligence, there would be be variation and everyone would be the same. However using gene therapy for medical purposes would be very useful and beneficial to our society such that it could help save many people’s lives and completely cure them of some diseases.

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