https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7 en-us 2017-05-16 05:20:41 UTC 2025-11-14 07:00:16 UTC hello@padlet.com leuk61262 https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172001380 Health problems can be cured in many ways; with medicine, with surgery. However, with modern being developed constantly, a new, experimental method of treating diseases has arose: Gene therapy. Gene therapy is the treatment of different diseases through the insertion of foreign nucleic acid (your DNA is a type of nucleic acid) into your cells (Genetics Home Reference). There are two methods in performing gene therapy: viral and non-viral However, for this reflection, we will be focusing on viral gene therapy. ]]> 2017-05-16 05:22:07 UTC https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172001380 leuk61262 https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172961294
What is it?
Viruses, over the course of their long, long existence, have been using living organisms as hosts, inserting them into their cells and tricking the nucleus into reproducing them. However, with our further understanding of cells and viruses, scientists have been attempting to utilise these "gene delivery vehicles" to help treat diseases and genetic disorders (Scheller and Krebsbach, 2009). In other words, scientists have learned to replace mutated genes with healthy genes through the help of viruses.

Setbacks
However, although more effective than non-viral gene therapy, some disadvantages of viral gene therapy include its high immunogenicity, meaning that the body may not accept the virus and become immune to it, and its relative volatileness and unstableness, being that it is a virus. There has been a case where gene therapy was applied to a sensitive spot in the genome, where the tumour suppressing gene was weakened, developing cancer in the patient. On top of that, some disorders such as diabetes or Alzheimer's are affect by multiple genes, further complicating the use of viral gene therapy. 

]]> 2017-05-21 07:43:08 UTC https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172961294 leuk61262 https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172961585
Advantages of Viral Gene Therapy
Viral Gene therapy is a dream come true for some people. People who benefit from this treatment are those who have no other option but to use gene therapy. Some diseases and disorder cannot be cured or treated with drugs or surgery, as they are infused with the person's DNA. The only way to get rid of these disorders are to change the genes themselves. These people are those who inherit genetic disorders (such as alzheimer's or diabetes) from their parents. Gene therapy also has the ability to completely erase a genetic issue from your bloodline, provided that it is performed on the reproductive cells as well as your own. This means that not only would this procedure benefit yourself, but it would benefit others (your offspring and beyond) too.


Disadvantages of Viral Gene Therapy
However, Gene therapy has the potential to harm people, as well. Gene therapy is a relatively new science, and has not been perfected to its fullest extent yet. This procedure requires precision and accuracy, and one mistake could lead to the patient's death. An example of this would be Jesse Gelsinger, a teenager who had a rare liver disorder, who died in 1998 due to a mistake in the gene therapy procedure (Chu 2014). Another negative aspect of this new procedure is that gene therapy is very, very expensive. Glybera, a type of gene therapy treatment, costs $1.6 million USD per patient. That's ¥11,040,000 CNY! This would mean that the poor or even middle-class members of society would not be able to get treatment for the genetic diseases that could only be cured through gene therapy. Whether or not gene therapy would mean a larger inequality gap in society is unknown, but as this science is further developed and commercialised, this is a very big possibility. Furthermore, this science allows scientists to "play the role of God" (Chu 2014). Gene therapy, although experimental, allows scientists to alter people's genes, and could possibly be used to create "the perfect human". If you're getting a Nazi vibe, I am too. If restrictions are not erected over a human's genetic build, some racial and elitist elements are bound to come into play. ]]> 2017-05-21 07:48:39 UTC https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172961585 leuk61262 https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172981454 2017-05-21 14:09:22 UTC https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172981454 leuk61262 https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172981531 Gene therapy is a very promising science. It delivers the prospect of curing the incurable, treating what we cannot with drugs and surgery. However, it is still young, and it has not been mastered and experimented with to the fullest extent. Along with the promise of recovery, gene therapy also brings along the chance of operational failure, which endangers the patient. Furthermore, the science raises many moral and ethical concerns, worrying many people about how far this procedure allows scientists to go. In conclusion, despite being useful, gene therapy should be further experimented with (and subsequently regulated) before being widely introduced to the world.]]> 2017-05-21 14:10:53 UTC https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172981531 leuk61262 https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172981840 "What is gene therapy? - Genetics Home Reference." U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health, 16 May 2017, https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/therapy/genetherapy. Accessed 21 May 2017.
Chu, Joyce. "Gene Therapy Benefits and Potential Risks." Guardian Liberty Voice, Frackle Media Group, 22 July 2014, http://guardianlv.com/2014/07/gene-therapy-benefits-and-potential-risks/. Accessed 21 May 2017.
"Gene Therapy - Principles Of Gene Therapy | Types & Examples." Biology, Byjus Classes, 24 December 2016. http://byjus.com/biology/gene-therapy/. Accessed 21 May 2017.
"Scheller, E.L., and P.H. Krebsbach. "Gene Therapy: Design and Prospects for Craniofacial Regeneration". Journal of Dental Research, SAGE Publications, July 2009,https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2907101/. Accessed 21 May 2017.
"Gene Therapy." Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 20 May 2017,  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_therapy#Viruses. Accessed 21 May 2017.]]> 2017-05-21 14:15:35 UTC https://padlet.com/leuk61262/223g2tylyzr7/wish/172981840