Gene Therapy & Cancer Cells
Gene therapy is often defined as a treatment that uses genes to cure or prevent diseases. Genes, DNA, and protein are all involved with each other, therefore, in many immune diseases, if one fails your whole immune system could eventually fail. This treatment is relatively new; hence it is still a pretty risky experimentation since it involves getting genes into cancer cells. Gene Therapy is often involved in serious cancer cell treatments; its main purpose is to try to trick the immune system into believing that the cancer cells are foreign. This type of therapy is only used in certain conditions such as if there is not another option.
Genes, which are found in DNA, are coded messages that inform cells how to …show more content…
Many times, these genes are implanted with viruses since viruses are able to enter the cells with translated genetic material. These viruses are not extreme but changed in the laboratory for the hope that it only attacks cancer cells.3 If for some odd reason it didn’t detect the healthy cells, the body would not only be dealing with extreme flu like symptoms, but also the inability to recover or fight against cancer. Researchers are looking at five main types of gene therapy. The first experiment consists of boosting the immune reaction. Our immune system is reliable for killing harmful things that cause diseases. Immune systems with cancer cells are lacking cells with genes and no faults, so the purpose of this treatment is to add genes to aid with finding foreign dangerous cells such as cancer. This treatment is typically used with patients with breast cancer. The second type of treatment consists of the general gene therapy to make cancer treatments more effective. This therapy inserts genes into cancer cells to make the cells more sensitive to die to particular treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Another type of gene therapy consists the use of pro drugs, which help deliver genes though out the body inactively, but when it detects a cancer cell it reacts and the drug begins to kill. Some gene therapies are specified to block the processes that cancer cells use to exist. An example is that cells in the body are expected to die when their DNA is unable to be repaired which happens after a certain amount of time (apoptosis). Cancer cells block this natural process, which allows for the tumor of malfunctioning cells. Some gene therapy strategies aim to reverse this blockage, which leaves the cancer cells with no other option but to die. Gene therapy, as mentioned before, is a very difficult process and consists of one of the most
Gene therapy is often defined as a treatment that uses genes to cure or prevent diseases. Genes, DNA, and protein are all involved with each other, therefore, in many immune diseases, if one fails your whole immune system could eventually fail. This treatment is relatively new; hence it is still a pretty risky experimentation since it involves getting genes into cancer cells. Gene Therapy is often involved in serious cancer cell treatments; its main purpose is to try to trick the immune system into believing that the cancer cells are foreign. This type of therapy is only used in certain conditions such as if there is not another option.
Genes, which are found in DNA, are coded messages that inform cells how to …show more content…
Many times, these genes are implanted with viruses since viruses are able to enter the cells with translated genetic material. These viruses are not extreme but changed in the laboratory for the hope that it only attacks cancer cells.3 If for some odd reason it didn’t detect the healthy cells, the body would not only be dealing with extreme flu like symptoms, but also the inability to recover or fight against cancer. Researchers are looking at five main types of gene therapy. The first experiment consists of boosting the immune reaction. Our immune system is reliable for killing harmful things that cause diseases. Immune systems with cancer cells are lacking cells with genes and no faults, so the purpose of this treatment is to add genes to aid with finding foreign dangerous cells such as cancer. This treatment is typically used with patients with breast cancer. The second type of treatment consists of the general gene therapy to make cancer treatments more effective. This therapy inserts genes into cancer cells to make the cells more sensitive to die to particular treatments such as chemotherapy or radiotherapy. Another type of gene therapy consists the use of pro drugs, which help deliver genes though out the body inactively, but when it detects a cancer cell it reacts and the drug begins to kill. Some gene therapies are specified to block the processes that cancer cells use to exist. An example is that cells in the body are expected to die when their DNA is unable to be repaired which happens after a certain amount of time (apoptosis). Cancer cells block this natural process, which allows for the tumor of malfunctioning cells. Some gene therapy strategies aim to reverse this blockage, which leaves the cancer cells with no other option but to die. Gene therapy, as mentioned before, is a very difficult process and consists of one of the most