gene therapy

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.

gene therapy

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

gene therapy

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.

gene therapy

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 .)

Word History and Origins

Origin of gene therapy¹

First recorded in 1970–75

Example Sentences

Chris Snow hoped gene therapy would help him hold off the effects of ALS.

From Los Angeles Times

But even very expensive drugs – I reported on a one-off gene therapy that has an official cost of £2.6m – can be approved if the benefit is big enough.

From BBC

I’m a medical anthropologist and bioethicist who studies the values and experiences driving prenatal gene therapy developments, including genome editing.

From Salon

For example, gene therapy delivered into the fetal brain could reach the whole central nervous system.

From Salon

Published in Nature, this seminal work not only identifies a specific set of neurons and genes that plays a key role for recovery but also proposes a successful gene therapy derived from its discoveries.

From Science Daily