Gene therapy approaches to immunosuppression

Abstract

Gene therapy is defined as the delivery of genetic material in the form of DNA. Its purpose is to correct a missing or disturbed gene function associated with a pathophysiological situation in patients. It is attractive compared to the conventional pharmacological therapy, as it can be applied more locally and thus should have fewer side-effects. Somatic gene therapy, the delivery of genetic material in a non-hereditary fashion to mostly an adult target tissue has been persued by the research community for the past 10 years with only moderate success. The methodology of gene therapy must be improved before it becomes a clinical reality. This is in terms of improved efficiency of gene transfer to the target tissue, as well as in tighter control of gene expression. The primary focus of gene therapy will be in correcting genetic disorders followed by its application to so far unmet medical needs, e.g., cancer treatment. The present review summarises the progress which has been made in the past several years in the therapeutic area of transplantation and highlights the potential future applications of gene therapy in enhancing graft survival.KeywordsGene TherapySertoli CellGraft SurvivalAdenoviral VectorBronchiolitis ObliteransThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.