Latest Mesothelioma Treatments
and Research
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Gene Therapy
Gene therapy is still at an experimental stage. Gene therapy seeks to rectify genes that are not working normally but are instead defective - diseased.
Gene therapy will try to substitute, delete, insert or modify defective genes in the genome so that a disease can be treated or prevented.
The healing gene is delivered by a carrier called a 'vector'. Vectors are usually viruses as viruses have the innate capacity of being able to enter a cell and can also seek out particular cells.
The viral vectors (non-viral vectors also exist) have been changed so that they only leave the healing gene in the cell and not produce a new virus as would usually happen.
Research has also been going on to identify 'suicide genes' that would attack cancerous cells while healthy cells remained intact. The 'suicide gene' (delivered by a viral vector) would make cells secrete higher levels of protein which would activate an inactive drug injected in to the body - this now active drug would then destroy the cell containing the 'suicide gene'.
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