Muscle Gene Therapy


Book Description

Muscle disease represents an important health threat to the general population. There is essentially no cure. Gene therapy holds great promise to correct the genetic defects and eventually achieve full recovery in these diseases. Significant progresses have been made in the field of muscle gene therapy over the last few years. The development of novel gene delivery vectors has substantially enhanced specificity and efficiency of muscle gene delivery. The new knowledge on the immune response to viral vectors has added new insight in overcoming the immune obstacles. Most importantly, the field has finally moved from small experimental animal models to human patients. This book will bring together the leaders in the field of muscle gene transfer to provide an updated overview on the progress of muscle gene therapy. It will also highlight important clinical applications of muscle gene therapy.




Genome Editing in Neurosciences


Book Description

Innovations in molecular biology are allowing neuroscientists to study the brain with unprecedented resolution, from the level of single molecules to integrated gene circuits. Chief among these innovations is the CRISPR-Cas genome editing technology, which has the precision and scalability to tackle the complexity of the brain. This Colloque Médecine et Recherche has brought together experts from around the world that are applying genome editing to address important challenges in neuroscience, including basic biology in model organisms that has the power to reveal systems-level insight into how the nervous system develops and functions as well as research focused on understanding and treating human neurological disorders. This work was published by Saint Philip Street Press pursuant to a Creative Commons license permitting commercial use. All rights not granted by the work's license are retained by the author or authors.




Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy


Book Description

Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) is one of the most prevalent genetic disorders of childhood and currently stands as an incurable condition. This authoritative guide provides a clear overview of the latest current and experimental approaches to the treatment of DMD and examines the clinical, genetic, and pathophysiological aspects of the disease i




A Guide to Human Gene Therapy


Book Description

1. Non-viral gene therapy / Sean M. Sullivan -- 2. Adenoviral vectors / Stuart A. Nicklin and Andrew H. Baker -- 3. Retroviral vectors and integration analysis / Cynthia C. Bartholomae [und weitere] -- 4. Lentiviral vectors / Janka Matrai, Marinee K.L. Chuah and Thierry VandenDriessche -- 5. Herpes simplex virus vectors / William F. Goins [und weitere] -- 6. Adeno-Associated Viral (AAV) vectors / Nicholas Muzyczka -- 7. Regulatory RNA in gene therapy / Alfred. S. Lewin -- 8. DNA integrating vectors (Transposon, Integrase) / Lauren E. Woodard and Michele P. Calos -- 9. Homologous recombination and targeted gene modification for gene therapy / Matthew Porteus -- 10. Gene switches for pre-clinical studies in gene therapy / Caroline Le Guiner [und weitere] -- 11. Gene therapy for central nervous system disorders / Deborah Young and Patricia A. Lawlor -- 12. Gene therapy of hemoglobinopathies / Angela E. Rivers and Arun Srivastava -- 13. Gene therapy for primary immunodeficiencies / Aisha Sauer, Barbara Cassani and Alessandro Aiuti -- 14. Gene therapy for hemophilia / David Markusic, Babak Moghimi and Roland Herzog -- 15. Gene therapy for obesity and diabetes / Sergei Zolotukhin and Clive H. Wasserfall -- 16. Gene therapy for Duchenne muscular dystrophy / Takashi Okada and Shin'ichi Takeda -- 17. Cancer gene therapy / Kirsten A.K. Weigel-Van Aken -- 18. Gene therapy for autoimmune disorders / Daniel F. Gaddy, Melanie A. Ruffner and Paul D. Robbins -- 19. Gene therapy for inherited metabolic storage diseases / Cathryn Mah -- 20. Retinal diseases / Shannon E. Boye, Sanford L. Boye and William W. Hauswirth -- 21. A brief guide to gene therapy treatments for pulmonary diseases / Ashley T. Martino, Christian Mueller and Terence R. Flotte -- 22. Cardiovascular disease / Darin J. Falk, Cathryn S. Mah and Barry J. Byrne




Genome Research Advances


Book Description

The genomic approach of technology development and large-scale generation of community resource data sets has introduced an important new dimension in biological and biomedical research. Interwoven advances in genetics, comparative genomics, high throughput biochemistry and bioinformatics are combining to attack basic understanding of human life and disease and to develop strategies to combat disease. Genomic research began with The Human Genome Project (HGP), the international research effort that determined the DNA sequence of the entire human genome, completed in April 2003. The HGP also included efforts to characterise and sequence the entire genomes of several other organisms, many of which are used extensively in biological research. Identification of the sequence or function of genes in a model organism is an important approach to finding and elucidating the function of human genes. Integral to the HGP are similar efforts to understand the genomes of various organisms commonly used in biomedical research, such as mice, fruit flies and roundworms. Such organisms are called "model organisms," because they can often serve as research models for how the human organism behaves. This book presents the latest advances in this fast-moving field.




Disorders of Voluntary Muscle


Book Description

Rewritten and redesigned, this remains the one essential text on the diseases of skeletal muscle.




Skeletal Muscle


Book Description

Metabolic and functional impairments in skeletal muscle occur frequently, often in diverse conditions and each with different aetiologies, methods of diagnosis and treatment. This comprehensive text brings the complex facets of skeletal muscle pathology, diagnosis and management together.







Approaches to Blocking the Immune Response to Gene Transfer with Viral Vectors


Book Description

Viral vectors are superior tools for gene therapy and as a genetic vaccine platform because viruses have evolved to efficiently infect and transfer their genomes to cells. Several impressive successes in viral vector-based gene therapies have been reported in humans, including restoration of vision in patients with Leber’s congenital amaurosis by retinal gene transfer and cures for severe immune deficiencies by gene transfer to hematopoietic stem cells. However, the mammalian immune system has evolved in parallel to fend off invading pathogens such as viruses. Innate and antigen-specific adaptive immune responses against viral vectors and therapeutic transgene products pose serious hurdles for successful gene therapy. Pre-existing immunity in humans, resulting from prior exposure to the parent virus that forms the basis for the gene transfer vehicle may be derived from, often prevents efficient gene transfer. This problem also reduces our ability to use certain vectors for genetic vaccination or in anti-cancer therapy. For these reasons, the gene transfer community has been extensively studying the mechanisms of immune responses against viral vectors and has started to develop strategies and protocols to block or circumvent such responses. Choice, design and engineering of a vector as well as the route of administration/target tissue can be optimized/ altered to minimize immune responses or evade pre-existing immunity. Immune suppression and modulation strategies are being developed in order to minimize inflammation, prevent antibody or T cell responses against vectors, and to promote tolerance to therapeutic gene products. Combinations of these approaches will likely facilitate clinical applications of gene therapy for many target diseases and also aid in vaccine development.




Gene Therapy


Book Description

I entered the gene therapy field in the mid-1990s, being fascinated by the immense potential of genes as drugs for the treatment of human disease. Since then, I have experienced the ups and downs of this discipline, and tried to contribute with my work and that of my laboratory to the development of innovative approaches to the treatment of cardiovascular disorders. During these years, I have had several opp- tunities to speak on gene therapy at lectures and academic lessons, and have often noticed that the field is very attractive to scientists of all disciplines. However, as yet no comprehensive book on the subject has been published. Indeed, most books in the field are either a collection of gene transfer laboratory protocols or deal with the subject in a rather superficial manner. Hence the idea to write a gene therapy textbook that is broad and comprehensive, but at the same time provides sufficient molecular and clinical detail to be of interest to students, professors, and specialists in the various disciplines that contribute to gene therapy. I have tried to keep the language plain and, whenever possible, non-technical. Since the book is intended to be a textbook in the field of gene therapy in both the basic science and clinical areas, whenever technical descriptions are required, they are provided.