Advancements in Gene Therapy
By: Liz Acque
Gene Therapy. What is it?
The Magic Behind Gene Therapy
Currently very few people have received completely successful gene therapy. Although there haven’t been very successful stats so far, the future of gene therapy looks very bright and promising. Decades of research have taught us a lot about designing safe vectors, targeting varieties of cells and managing and minimizing immune responses. Many clinical trials are underway to insure that once gene therapy is brought to the clinics that it is both safe and effective for everyone. In the future gene therapy has the potential to completely reverse, cure or reduce symptoms of immune deficiencies, hereditary blindness, hemophilia, blood disease, fat metabolism disorder, some forms of cancer and Parkinson’s disease.
Advantages and Disadvantages
But there are also always disadvantages and risks when dealing will miraculous medicine. On top of that there are also always moral, ethical and legal lines that need to be put into place because of beliefs and humanity. One of the major turn offs is the fact that genetic testing is causing many ethical and legal problems amongst patients. For example, if parents do a genetic test on fetus and finds that it comes back positive for a terrible disorder than they could abort the baby because of it; which would then arise arguments of faith/beliefs, wellbeing, etc. There is also a money conflict, if a genetic test is positive, insurance can increase and costs can become unmanageable for the patient. There are also superficial consequences like if scientists are able to pinpoint phenotypic genes than gene therapy can turn into cosmetic medicine and overshadow the main goal to cure genetic diseases. On top of it all, gene therapy only lasts a short amount of time and needs to be administered multiple times to be as effective as possible and that can seriously take a toll on the human body and the immune system. Also, different people can have different reactions to the treatments like being immune to the vector being used or even allergic.
But overall a bumps along the way will pay off in the end when people with disorder will not only be able to cure themselves but the will also prevent the gene being passed down to any of their offspring.
Effects
Not only does it take a toll on the body but these treatments can take a toll on our environment. Gene therapy is also used on certain crops to ensure immunity and other advantages against the challenges in nature. These plants are called GMOs (genetically modified organisms) and an example of it is Round UP ready soybeans. Round UP ready soybeans are GMO soybeans that have been modified to be resistant to the weed pesticide Round UP. This can affect our bodies too because we could process the crop differently.
Economic effects of Gene Therapy are terribly consuming. There is a high as a million dollar price tag on on gene therapy and that can finically cripple some families. There is also the fact of raising rate in insurance and family situations like single mothers or fathers that can't afford expensive treatments like that.
The social aspect behind Gene therapy can be both good and bad. Because on one hand it is good and positive if disease are cured and population grows and reproductive age is reached. But on the other hand there is also the negative effects that the treatment has on the body which can still fail and further crippled the worlds population.
works cited
https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/therapy/genetherapy
https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~mcclean/plsc431/students/brandi.htm
https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~mcclean/plsc431/students99/gross.htm
http://blogs.nature.com/tradesecrets/2015/03/03/1-million-price-tag-set-for-glybera-gene-therapy