Exam IV: Lecture 15 Flashcards
What are some examples of diseases caused by a defective gene? (5)
- Cancer
- DMD (Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy)
- CF (cystic fibrosis)
- ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis)
- SCID (severe combined immune deficiency)
What gene is defected in SCID? What does that gene do? How does that contribute to the disease?
ADA
synthesis of nucleotides
Body can’t produce B and T cells
What gene is defected in Hemophilia? What does that gene do? How does that contribute to the disease?
Factor IX, VII
Catalyze clotting
Can’t clot
What gene is defected in Cystic Fibrosis? What does that gene do? How does that contribute to the disease?
Membrane Salt transporter
Build-up of salt in the cells > not fluid around the outside of the cells
What gene is defected in DMD? What does that gene do? How does that contribute to the disease?
Dystrophin
Connects muscle cells togher
Muscle dysfunction
What some examples of polygenic diseases? (3)
- Cancer
- Rheumatoid Arthritis
- Neurological Diseases (Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s)
What are the 4 goals for building the ideal gene therapy vector?
- It should be able to carry a full-length gene
- It should be able to penetrate the plasma membrane
- It should be able to transverse the cytoplasm and enter the nucleus
- It should be able to express large amounts of the gene product when required
If you are delivering genes with a viral vector, at what point to you want to block the normal viral life cycle?
You want to block replication
So, you have attachment > entry > delivery > transcriptions and translation of proteins. No replication and assembly.
Why use retroviral vectors for gene therapy?
The genome of the “virus” goes into the nucleus and integrates into the genome and becomes a provirus
How do you stop replication and assembly of retrovirus for gene therapy?
Remove the packaging signal so the viral proteins produced won’t be packaged and the virus particle won’t assemble
If you remove the packaging signal, how do you make enough viral particles to treat a patient with since the virus can not replicate inside the body?
You create a packaging cell line/producer cell line
Tell me about the packaging cell line
A cell line grown in the lab with the therapeutic gene and packaging signal > grow a bunch of viral particles with therapeutic gene inside > remove packaging signal (?) > treat patient
What is Ex vivo gene therapy?
Cells are taken out of the patient (usually bone marrow stem cells) > transduced with virus > returned to patient via transfusion
What are the advantages of ex vivo gene therapy? Disadvantages?
Advantages: efficeint
Disadvantages: only works in cells that can be grown outside of the body (limits the diseases that can be treated)
What is In vivo gene therapy?
The virus is injected into the target tissue