A team of researchers led by scientists at Weill Cornell Medical College has designed what appears to be a powerful gene therapy strategy that can treat both beta-thalassemia disease and sickle cell anemia. The scientists have also developed a test to predict patient response before treatment. This study's findings, published in online on March 27, 2012 in PLoS ONE, represent a new approach to treating these related, and serious, red blood cell disorders, say the investigators. "This gene therapy technique has the potential to cure many patients, especially if we prescreen them to predict their response using just a few of their cells in a test tube," says the study's lead investigator, Stefano Rivella, Ph.D., an associate professor of genetic medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College. He led a team of 17 researchers in three countries. Dr. Rivella says this is the first time investigators have been able to correlate the outcome of transferring a healthy beta-globin gene into diseased cells with increased production of normal hemoglobin -- which has long been a barrier to effective treatment of these diseases. So far, only one patient, in France, has been treated with gene therapy for beta-thalassemia, and Dr. Rivella and his colleagues believe the new treatment they developed will be a significant improvement. No known patient has received gene therapy yet to treat sickle cell anemia. Beta-thalassemia is an inherited disease caused by defects in the beta-globin gene. This gene produces an essential part of the hemoglobin protein, which, within red blood cells, carries life-sustaining oxygen throughout the body. The new gene transfer technique developed by Dr. Rivella and his colleagues ensures that the beta-globin gene that is delivered will be active, and that it will also provide more curative beta-globin protein.Login Or Register To Read Full Story