Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003232166
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Special genetic material would be injected into muscle tissue every few days or weeks in much the same fashion that insulin now is injected daily to treat diabetes.
The technique, developed by San Diego and Wisconsin scientists, could apply to a wide range of genetic diseases - such as muscular dystrophy and rare diseases of the immune system - for which there is now no adequate therapy.
It also might serve as a way to deliver genetic engineering products, such as human growth hormone, more cheaply.
Researchers say it could be a valuable tool in the search for a vaccine for acquired immune deficiency syndrome or help fight the infections.
Until now, scientists have experimented with replacing defective genes by using special viruses to insert healthy genetic material into an individual's so-called genetic fingerprint, DNA. But researchers and critics have feared that the viruses would insert the genes at the wrong site in DNA, thereby disrupting healthy genes.
The added genetic material would break down in a period of days or weeks, so the genetic therapy would be reversible if adverse effects should appear.
The researchers, from Vical Inc. in San Diego and the University of Wisconsin Medical Center in Madison, are to report in today's Science magazine that they have used the technique to successfully produce proteins in mice.
by CNB