Copper depletion and interactions of zinc with other micronutrients have not been adequately studied, says Sachdev. Khabir Ahmad Gene-therapy advances greeted positively Gene therapy is becoming a realistic option for several diseases. Four patients aged from 3 weeks to 7 months, all with severe sepsis and no available donor, were transplanted with their own CD34 bone-marrow cells that had been transduced with a retrovirus containing the c gene. Although the results are preliminary, this may be the first cure of a genetic disease by gene therapy. Human factor IX was cloned into an adenoviral associated virus and the construct injected intramuscularly.
Data are available on three patients.
Two patients had detectable amounts of factor IX 11 weeks after injection and a decreased use of factor concentrate up to 4.5 months post-injection.