Cell and Gene Therapy; Help Cure Disease and Improve the Body's Ability to Fight Disease

 

Cell and gene therapy is widely used to treat, prevent, or potentially cure diseases, and helps to alleviate the underlying cause of genetic and acquired diseases. Both cell therapy and gene therapy are overlapping fields of biomedical research and treatment. It is an innovative medical procedure that offers personalized treatments for various illnesses and diseases. It can be used in children, adults, and even animals. Cell and gene therapy plays an important role in modern health care, as it helps to provide techniques and concepts that can be used in gene regulation, regenerative capacity, cell–cell interactions, and remodeling.

Cell and gene therapy offers a better option than traditional drug treatments. These treatments involve the use of genetically altered or individualized cells that are obtained from the patient's own body or a donor. They are then inserted into the body through the mouth or nose. These cells are then treated with hormones, medicines, or chemicals which activate the production of the target cells or tissues. After this is done, the cells start to grow and divide at rapid rates and then they replace the damaged cells or tissues that were destroyed during the illness or disease.

Cell and gene therapy adds a new gene or replaces a faulty gene in an attempt to cure disease or improve the body's ability to fight disease. Cell and gene therapy can be used to treat a wide range of diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, AIDS, hemophilia, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Thus, with the increasing prevalence of aforementioned diseases, the demand for cell and gene therapy is also increasing with a rapid pace, worldwide. However, researchers are still studying how and when to use gene therapy. Currently, gene therapy is available only as part of a clinical trial in the United States.

Most of the cell and gene therapies are not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for widespread use. Tecartus, a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy, is the first cell-based gene therapy approved by the FDA for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a cancer of white blood cells. There are many benefits of cell and gene therapy when it comes to treating various diseases and illnesses. These types of treatments/therapies are used for serious diseases and disorders that involve the genetic makeup of the body. Thus, there is an increasing demand for both cell therapy and gene therapy.