gene therapy

American  

noun

Medicine/Medical.

1. the application of genetic engineering to the transplantation of genes into human cells in order to cure a disease caused by a genetic defect, as a missing enzyme.

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gene therapy British  

noun

1. the replacement or alteration of defective genes in order to prevent the occurrence of such inherited diseases as haemophilia. Effected by genetic engineering techniques, it is still at the experimental stage

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gene therapy Scientific  

1. The treatment of a disorder or disease, especially one caused by the inheritance of a defective gene, by replacing defective genes with healthy ones through genetic engineering.

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gene therapy Cultural  

1. A promising technology that involves replacing a defective gene in the body with a healthy one. This can be done by removing cells from the body, using genetic engineering techniques to change defective sequences in the DNA, and then reinserting the cells. This technique has been carried out successfully, for example, on bone marrow cells, in which defective cells were successfully replaced with healthy, genetically engineered cells. Scientists hope to find an agent, such as a therapeutic virus, that will be able to correct defective DNA in situ. (See cloning vector.)

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Etymology

Origin of gene therapy

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

"She was given the gene therapy. We were told she may never walk, talk or eat... she was sent home with us and five machines. It was desperate."

From BBC

Tirupathi said gene therapy was life-changing.

From BBC

"Whenever you cut DNA, there's a risk of cancer. And if you're doing a gene therapy for a lifelong disease, that's a bad kind of risk," Prof. Crossley says.

From Science Daily

"But if we can do gene therapy that doesn't involve snipping DNA strands, then we avoid these potential pitfalls."

From Science Daily

In 2021, a life-changing gene therapy drug called Zolgensma was approved by the NHS to treat babies with the disease.

From BBC