Word: bone-marrow
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...Were you encouraged by the report from Johns Hopkins that bone-marrow transplants might provide a cure...
...transplanted most of it into her daughter. The revolutionary technique -- transplanting a liver from a living donor -- had been performed in Brazil, Australia and Japan, but this was the first time it was tried in the U.S. Doctors have had a great deal of success in kidney, pancreas and bone-marrow transplants from living donors, and hope is rising that the liver will join that list. Says Dr. Christoph Broelsch, who led the Chicago transplant team: "This surgery potentially opens up a whole new pool of donor organs for infants. It's the first step in answering the problem...
...effect a cure, doctors would remove bone-marrow cells from a patient and expose them to a retrovirus* engineered to carry correctly functioning versions of the patient's faulty gene. When the retrovirus invaded a marrow cell, it would insert itself into the cellular DNA, as retroviruses are wont to do, carrying the good gene with it. Reimplanted in the marrow, the altered marrow cells would take hold and multiply, churning out the previously lacking protein and curing the thalassemia patient...
...possibilities for gene therapy will be limited for the near future. If gene transplants are performed on tissue cells -- bone-marrow cells, for instance -- the altered genes will die with the patient; they cannot be passed on to any children the patient might subsequently have. Someday, however, it may be possible to change genes in germ cells, which give rise to sperm or eggs. If that feat is accomplished, the new genes would be transmitted to one generation after another...
...color, the armpits and other cavities turning almost black. Excruciating blisters appear on the neck, chest and thighs, causing patches of skin to fall off. Large lesions discolor the genital area. For some, the blisters and the terror eventually fade, although they may be plagued by side effects like bone-marrow or gastrointestinal problems for years to come. Others perish quickly, the silenced victims of a silent killer...