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Biology LibreTexts

10: Gene Therapy

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As far back as the 1900s, it was understood that metabolic diseases -- so-called inborn errors of metabolism -- were inherited genetically. Over the next century, then, researchers laid the foundations of modern genetics – unraveling the way nucleic acids store information, the processes by which genes are turned into proteins, and the connections between proteins and diseases. And it makes sense that, with this knowledge, people began to work on modifying the genetic content of cells in an attempt to treat disease.

Learning Objectives

If you have mastered the material in this chapter, you should be able to:

  • Describe the following ways that gene therapies deliver genetic material into cells and assess their benefits and drawbacks:
    • Viral vectors
    • Lipid nanoparticles
  • Describe the following gene therapies and the scenarios that they best address:
    • Delivery of entire transgenes
    • Genome editing
    • Base editing
    • Transient gene expression
    • Short RNA therapies
    • Ex vivo modification

 


10: Gene Therapy is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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