StemCell Therapy

In the race to produce a coronavirus vaccine, some companies are experimenting with a novel approach using gene therapy. The faster, cheaper method could trigger peoples bodies to produce their own antibodies against the virus more quickly than a traditional vaccine would.

The new techniquestill in the early stages of researchinvolves taking antibodies from the blood of someone who has survived COVID-19 and isolating their genetic material. Doctors would then inject the DNA into the arm or leg of a patient, where it would provide instructions for the muscle to produce more antibodies to fight the virus. The gene therapy technique could provide immunity or lessen the severity of the disease in those already infected.

Doctors could enhance the treatment with a gene gun. The device delivers an electric shock that causes the muscle cells to pop open for an instant, increasing absorption of the injected DNA. The procedure could, within just hours, turn the muscle into an antibody-producing factory, according to SmartPharm, one of the companies working on the treatment.

You can make DNA very readily, its dirt cheap, and you let the muscle make the antibody, Sorrento Therapeutics CEO Henry Ji, who is working with SmartPharm, told MIT Technology Review.

Traditional vaccines depend on the recipients immune system to mount a protective response against the virus. But it takes several weeks for a body to generate an immune response strong enough to provide protection. Some peoples bodies cant do it at all, particularly the elderly and others at high risk for COVID-19. With the new treatment, the muscles could produce protective levels of the antibody within a day or two. The antibody production could last weeks, or even months, regardless of the strength of the patients immune system.

Vaccines usually only work if given before someone contracts the disease. But the gene therapy can neutralize the virus even in an active infection.

Scientists have not yet tested this method of preventing and treating COVID-19 in humans. But David Weiner, director of the vaccine and immunotherapy center at the Wistar Institute in Philadelphia, told MIT Technology Review his center has tested anti-COVID-19 gene injections on animals. Last year, researchers at AbCellera in Vancouver, Canada, developed a gene shot that allowed mice to survive a dose of avian influenza 20 times the lethal amount.

DNA injections might also prove useful as an inexpensive way to treat cancer and arthritis, Weiner said. Even if scientists cannot develop the technique in time to prevent or treat COVID-19, the research could enable a quick solution to the next pandemic.

In the future, we will have gone through the drill, Ji said. Youll just snap your gene in.

Link:
A different kind of shot in the arm against COVID-19 - WORLD News Group

This entry was posted on June 28, 2020 at 3:48 pm and is filed under Gene therapy. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed. |