Gene therapy may be in its infancy, but great hopes for its potential to treat everything from cancer to
Alzheimer’s to heart disease are forcing it to grow up fast. After two decades of lab research, gene treatments are
increasingly making their way into human clinical trials. The bulk of research so far has focused on getting a gene to
its destination and coaxing it to turn on once inside a cell. On their own, genes can’t pass through cell membranes, and
much effort has been spent to trick cells into accepting foreign genes. The most efficient couriers are so-called viral
vectors: viruses whose genomes have been swapped out for therapeutic genes. Like Trojan horses, they slip genes into
target cells undetected. But as scientists are learning, there is no safe way to hijack a virus. The vectors sometimes trigger immune reactions. And once the genes are inside a cell, there is no way to be sure they will function as
intended. Case in point: a Paris gene therapy trial to treat SCIDs, or the “bubble boy disease,” restored immune
function in nine of 10 patients. But it was later revealed that two of them had developed leukemia.
【題組】49 According to the passage, which of the following statements is NOT correct?
(A) Genes are unable to move across cell membranes on their own.
(B) Gene therapy is still in its early stages.
(C) Scientists have made significant progress in taking control of viruses that carry therapeutic genes.
(D) Much effort in gene therapy has been spent to deceive cells into accepting foreign genes.
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