Chapter 10

Cards (15)

  • Cells are the basic building blocks of all living things. The human body is composed of trillions of them.
  • Within our cells there are thousands of genes that provide the information for the production of specific proteins and enzymes that make muscles, bones, and blood, which in turn support most of our body’s functions, such as digestion, making energy and growing.
  • In gene therapy, scientist can do one of several things depending on the problem that is present. They can replace a gene that causes a medical problem with one that doesn’t, add genes to help the body to fight or treat disease, or turn off genes that are causing problems.
  • In order to insert new genes directly into cells, scientists use a vehicle called a “vector” which is genetically engineered to deliver the gene. Viruses, for example, have a natural ability to deliver genetic material into cells
  • When gene therapy done inside the body, a doctor will inject the vector carrying the gene directly into the part of the body that has defective cells.
  • In gene therapy that is used to modify cells outside the body, blood, bone marrow, or another tissue can be taken from the patient, and specific types of cells can be separated out in the lab. The vector containing the desired gene is introduced into these cells. The cells are left to multiply in the laboratory and then injected back into the patient where they continue to multiply and eventually produce the desired effect.
  • Replacement treatment: Replacing a natural gene with a non-natural gene through homologous recombination.
  • Modifier gene therapy: Restoring natural function to a defective gene through selective reverse mutation
  • Gene transfer to specific cell line This line is divided into 2 general categories of somatic gene therapy, and sex cell gene therapy.
  • Approaches to gene therapy: gene modification, gene transfer method, gene transfer to specific cell line, the adoption of the most appropriate genetic engineering
  • Gene transfer method There are 3 physical, chemical, and biological methods of gene transfer.
  • A stem cell therapy is any treatment that uses stem cells as the primary way of curing or reducing the severity of a disease or disorder
  • stem cell therapy as a transplant, where the desired stem cells are harvested either from the patient or a donor and refined or modified in some way before being injected or grafted into the patient,
  • stem cell therapy as a target for a drug or other biologic where the drug or biologic is intended to activate a desired response from the stem cells that already exist in the patient’s tissues or organs.
  • The possibility of destructive embryo research, particularly embryonic stem cell research, presents us with a moral problem because it appears to bring into tension two fundamental moral principles that people esteem very highly: one principle enjoins the prevention or alleviation of suffering, and other enjoins us to respect the value of human life.