French scientists report gene therapy breakthrough

Posted Thursday, Nov. 05, 2009 Comments   (0) Print Share Share Reprints
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The Associated Press

WASHINGTON — French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence.

The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn’t cause AIDS and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.

The experiment marks both the first time researchers have tried that long-contemplated step in people and the first effective gene therapy against a severe brain disease, said the lead researcher, Dr. Patrick Aubourg of the University Paris-Descartes.

Although it’s a small, first-step study, it has "exciting implications" for other blood and immune disorders that had been feared beyond gene therapy’s reach, said Dr. Kenneth Cornetta, president of the American Society of Gene and Cell Therapy. His lab at Indiana University has long researched how to safely develop gene delivery using lentiviruses, HIV’s family.

The research was published in today’s edition of the journal Science.

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