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Gene Therapy
These genetic defects are responsible for transferring hereditary traits from parents to their children, making them not only responsible for the transfer of diseases such as hereditary diabetics but making their malfunctioning and abnormality a cause for various defects and disorders such as Down's syndrome.
Gene therapy uses the following approaches to correct and modify malfunctioning genes:
1. the most common approach is replacing a faulty gene by inserting a normal gene
2. a faulty gene may also be repaired by reverse mutation.
3. the degree to which a faulty gene influences body processes might be changed.
To carry out the modifications, carriers are used, which are mainly retro viruses or adenoids.
There are many hurdles preventing the effective action of gene therapy today:
1. Therapeutic DNA remains stable and active in the patients body and problems with the integration of these with the patient's cells.
2. Immune responses triggered by the carriers could cause harm to the patient or destroy the carrier.
3. Gene therapy is not effective against diseases which are caused due to a combination of malfunctioning genes such as alzheimer's disease, arthritis, etc.
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