Whatever wonders of medical science the genome revolution may have in store for mankind, they aren’t coming easily. More confirmation came this week when biotechnology firm Human Genome Sciences announced that it was scrapping one of its best hopes for gene therapy—a wound-healing drug called repifermin—after a third straight failure to adequately heal various skin conditions. In 2002, the company abandoned its scheduled debut product, mirostipen, a gene-based drug that was supposed to mitigate the side effects of chemotherapy.
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By coincidence, a new study out of the National Cancer Institute tries to explain what went wrong last year when French researchers stopped a gene-therapy trial because two young patients developed leukemia. It turns out that the replacement gene itself could contribute to cancer. Placing it in a virus—the method of insertion—caused the gene to be overactive. In the two young patients, the gene apparently landed near another cancer-causing gene, with unfortunate results. Before any further gene-therapy trials, the study’s authors recommend that researchers consult an NCI database to see if the gene they want to insert has been determined to be potentially cancer-causing. So far, using genetics for disease testing rather than treatment has proven more successful.
On a more positive medical note, researchers from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, say they have developed "nanoparticle cluster bombs," to be delivered via an asthma-style inhaler to treat cancerous lung cells. So far the particles have only been tested in the lab dish. But the idea is that in the lungs, the powder would dissolve into nanoparticles upon contact with the moist mucus there. In a brief E-chat with Next News, team member Raimar Loebenberg said each grain of drug powder contains a few thousand nanoparticles designed to slip past the immune system and carry designer drugs that target cancer cells while ignoring healthy ones.
