From: david gobel (davegobel@erols.com)
Date: Wed Jan 20 1999 - 13:23:54 MST
WASHINGTON, Jan. 19 (UPI) - Scientists have combined the morning-after
abortion pill and a bio-engineered cold virus to deliver a genetic switch
into the body that can be flipped on to produce therapeutic substances only
when needed. Dr. Bert O'Malley, of Houston's Baylor College of Medicine,
told United Press International the method opens the door to fighting
conditions ranging from cancer to anemia. His experiment produced high
levels of human growth hormone in mice without causing an immune response
that might destroy the virus. His findings are reported in Tuesday's issue
of the Proceedings of the National Academy of sciences.
O'Malley and his team loaded a gutted adenovirus, which usually causes
colds, with a segment of DNA that would activate the growth hormone gene and
a receptor sensitive to the drug mifepristone, commonly known as RU486, the
morning-after pill. After being injected into the body, an extremely low
dose of RU486 - thousands of times smaller than is used to disrupt the
reproductive system - turned on the gene in the infected liver cells,
producing high levels of growth hormone. O'Malley says he chose the growth
hormone gene for the experiment because the protein it makes it is easy to
track in the body. But he says you can pop the gene out and put in any other
DNA segment, such as one that fights cancer or aging.
He plans to try some other proteins this year and hopes to test his
virus-and-switch system on humans by 2000. The human experiments will be
aimed at cancer, targeting agents that limit tumor proliferation or block
blood supply to the cancer. Gene therapy expert Gary Nabel, of Howard Hughes
Medical Institute at the University of Michigan, called O'Malley's
experiment a major advance. In a commentary accompanying the study, he says
he is encouraged by the work, because it can presumably be extended to other
vectors to fight other diseases.
====================
now let's all call Geron and get them to give this guy telomerase sequences.
Dave Gobel
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