Gene Therapy

Introduction to the General Topic: Application of Gene Therapy

In brief describe about this application (what is it all about?)

Gene Therapy is the technique of inserting healthy genes into the human body to cure any disease, including genetic diseases, as to cure the mutated gene that is causing problems for the patient. In other words, genes are utilized as medicine. It is aimed towards being a potential treatment to cure genetic diseases such as cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and cancer. 

What are some benefits of this application?   

Gene Therapy allows people to be cured from a variety of diseases, in which they include genetic diseases and cancer. According to learn.genetics.utah.edu, successfully cured diseases through the use of gene therapy include immune deficiencies, hereditary blindness, hemophilia, blood disease, fat metabolism disorder, cancer and parkinson's disease.

What are some future improvements which still need to be done to make this application perfect (limitations)?

As said above, gene therapy is currently still being researched and experimented on to ensure its safety and effectiveness. According to betterhealth.vic.gov.au, between 1989 and 2010, 1698 clinical gene therapy trials were conducted. However it resulted to only less than 1% trials being a success and showed effective results with clinical benefits. Researchers are still studying on how to correctly deliver and activate the cell, how to avoid immune response that could harm the body and how to avoid disrupting important genes in target cells.

     What issues (social, economic, ethical, political or cultural) are currently related to the use of this application worldwide?

Gene Therapy has various ethical and moral issues. People tend to believe when gene therapy becomes known, researchers may start to have the same aim as genetic engineering through the use of gene therapy. People fear that normal and common characteristics of people will be considered as 'subnormal' and more discrimination among society will occur. Furthermore, another issue is concerned with money. This extremely common issue explains that gene therapy might be labelled with quite an expensive price, thus the poor is unable to afford the procedure and only the rich is capable of getting the treatment. 

Bibliography:

-  "Gene Therapy - Better Health Channel." Better Health Channel. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Gene_therapy>.

      - "Gene Therapy: Revolutionizing Medicine." Gene Therapy. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~mcclean/plsc431/students/brandi.htm>.

      - "Gene Therapy Successes." Gene Therapy Successes. N.p., n.d. Web. 06 Oct. 2014. <http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/genetherapy/gtsuccess/>.

      - "Gene Therapy." Gene Therapy. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-science/genetics-molecular-medicine/current-topics/gene-therapy.page>.

      -  "Challenges in Gene Therapy?" Challenges in Gene Therapy? N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/genetherapy/gtchallenges/>.

      - ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/g/gene_therapy.htm%27>.

      - "What Is Gene Therapy?" Genetics Home Reference. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Oct. 2014. <http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/therapy/genetherapy>.

      - "Gene Therapy." Gene Therapy. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Oct. 2014. <http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/physician-resources/medical-science/genetics-molecular-medicine/current-topics/gene-therapy.page>.