stop bio-technology now?

[David Morris]

http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=769620

'Bubble Boy' Cured in British Gene Therapy First

LONDON (Reuters) - British doctors have successfully used gene therapy for 
the first time to cure a Welsh toddler born without an immune system, the 
Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children said on Wednesday.

The London hospital said 18-month-old Rhys Evans had been cured of the fatal 
genetic condition X-linked Severe Combined Immunodeficiency Disease 
(X-SCID), commonly known as "baby in the bubble" syndrome.

"This is the first time gene therapy has cured a child in Britain," the 
hospital said in a statement.

The Evans case, which followed the opening of a gene therapy laboratory at 
the hospital last September, is one of the few clinically successful 
examples of gene therapy in the world.

French researchers claimed the first success for gene therapy in 2000 when 
they treated two infant boys with X-SCID.

The disease meant Rhys Evans was born without an immune system and was 
highly susceptible to potentially fatal infections.

He was forced to live in a totally sterile environment, isolated from other 
children, and spent much of his life in hospital.

Doctors removed some of Rhys' bone marrow and genetically modified it to add 
a correct copy of the faulty gene which caused X-SCID. The marrow was then 
re-injected into his system.

Dr. Adrian Thrasher, who led the team which carried out the procedure, said 
the success of Rhys' treatment was very exciting.

"Gene therapy is about turning understanding into real cures for real 
children," he said.

Rhys' mother Marie said the treatment had made a huge difference for her 
son.

"We see him now playing with other children and it is just amazing," she 
told the BBC.





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