Advancing gene therapy for hemophilia
Hemophilia is an inherited bleeding disorder caused by a deficiency in a blood clotting factor. The current treatment requires lifelong intravenous administration of the missing clotting factor every few days, a costly and demanding regimen for patients with hemophilia. Gene therapy has the potential to provide a single-shot treatment option by replacing a functional gene in liver cells that naturally produce the factor. Cantore et al. now report a study of the efficacy and safety of liver-directed in vivo gene therapy in large and small animal models using lentiviral vectors. This gene therapy strategy with lentiviral vectors may complement the use of other gene therapy vectors for treating hemophilia.
- Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science
