There are many pros and cons on the concept of gene and cell therapies. Gene therapy is an innovative approach to medicine that uses genetic material to provent, treat and potentially even cure disease. In gene therapy, genetic material is delivered to your cells and changes how your cells produce proteins. While still in its earliest stages, gene therapy has the promise to be a life-changing medical treatment.
Many people look down upon gene therapy because it is inhuman or unethical but really there are many benefits including treatments for diseases and disorders, and conditions can be slowed down or even stopped.
Gene therapy makes it possible to create treatment that can specifically target any of the genes in your body. This can come in handy with many single gene disorders including, sickle cell anemia, cystic fibrosis, duchenne muscular dystrophy, and many more.
Gene therapy provides hope for new treatments for diseases that currently don’t have many other options. Without treatment, many diseases and disorders lead to disabilities or premature death.
Several inherited immune deficiencies have been treated successfully with gene therapy. Severe Combined Immune Deficiency (SCID) was one of the first genetic disorders to be treated successfully with gene therapy, proving that the approach could work. Another inherited immune disorder that has been successfully treated with gene therapy is Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) Deficiency. For the majority of patients in these trials, immune function improved to the point that the people with the disorder no longer needed injections of ADA enzyme.
On the other hand there are some disadvantages of gene and cell therapy. Gene therapy is a very complicated process, delivering foreign material into your body can cause an immune response that may exclude you from future treatments and or clinical trials. Because the science of gene therapy is so new there are many unknown complications that can happen. The biggest disadvantage of gene therapy is that it can be extremely pricey, making gene therapy inaccessible for some people.
Many people who participate in these clinical trials have been positively affected in which the diseases and disorders conditions have been reduced or even taken away. Using gene therapy has long lasting effects that are even passed down through generations.
Some people may question if people should be allowed to use gene therapy to enhance basic human traits such as height, intelligence, or athletic ability.
People should not take advantage of gene therapy and or genetic engineering. There are many opinions on gene therapy, whether we should use it and what we use it for. Gene therapy was not founded for enhancing the human but to help humans surpass the odds of living the average life and taking down the disease or genetic disorder.
Altogether, gene therapies offer substantial benefits to patients who otherwise have little to no hope of cure or even meaningful improvements. Gene therapy is a profound medical treatment that gives people another chance at life.
