Gene Therapy Technology

Chromatin Insulators and Prospective Application for Gene Therapy

Integrating viral vectors hold great promise as gene transfer vectors for gene therapy purposes because they allow maintaining long-term expression of the therapeutic transgene throughout cell divisions. However, many issues related to integration of the provirus remain as a substantial risk for patients. The use of chromatin insulators has been proposed as a possible solution to problems raised by the integration of the vector.

Aptamer Targeting of Osteopontin in Cancer Metastasis

In recent years a novel crop of therapies called aptamers have been derived that take advantage of small segment nucleotides that tightly bind cell surface proteins. This interaction at the extracellular level impedes the normal cascade of the receptor protein, blunting or arresting the usual chain of intracellular events. In contrast to antibody directed therapies, aptamers are able to function at very low concentrations. In addition to the robust binding capability to target cell surface proteins (as described by the dissociation constant), added benefits of aptamer therapy include exquisite target specificity and a lack of immunogenicity (1, 2).

Gene Therapy Imaging

Gene therapy has developed greatly and the amount of patients treated in various clinical trials has continued to increase during the last decade (with 89 approved trials 2007, http://www.wiley.co.uk/genmed/clinical/).

Chromatin Insulators and Prospective Application for Gene Therapy

Aptamer Targeting of Osteopontin in Cancer Metastasis

Gene Therapy Imaging

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