DNA as therapeutics; an update

Abstract

Human gene therapy is the introduction of new genetic material into the cells of an individual with the intention of producing a therapeutic benefit for the patient. Deoxyribonucleic acid and ribonucleic acid are used in gene therapy. Over time and with proper oversight, human gene therapy might become an effective weapon in modern medicine's arsenal to help fight diseases such as cancer, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, diabetes, high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and other genetic disorders. Gene therapy trials in humans are of two types, somatic and germ line gene therapy. There are many ethical, social, and commercial issues raised by the prospects of treating patients whose consent is impossible to obtain. This review summarizes deoxyribonucleic acid-based therapeutics and gene transfer technologies for the diseases that are known to be genetic in origin. Deoxyribonucleic acid-based therapeutics includes plasmids, oligonucleotides for antisense and antigene applications, deoxyribonucleic acid aptamers and deoxyribonucleic acidzymes. This review also includes current status of gene therapy and recent developments in gene therapy research.

RNA-Based Therapeutics: From Antisense Oligonucleotides to miRNAs

“…DNA-based therapeutics, however, are not restricted to gene replacement [6]. DNA is also widely used for genetic immunization.…”

Applications of Ruthenium Complexes Covalently Linked to Nucleic Acid Derivatives

“…Its double helical nature, consisting of a rigid, aromatic column of stacked base pairs, allows charge and electron transfer through DNA duplexes [ 7 , 8 , 9 ]. As carriers of genetic information and blueprints for protein synthesis, DNA and RNA, respectively, have also risen as targets for the inhibition of gene expression through the use of therapeutic antigene and antisense oligonucleotides [ 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 ] as well as catalytic nucleic acids [ 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 ].…”

Terapia génica: opción terapéutica para neoplasias, infecciones y enfermedades monogénicas

“…De hecho, el desarrollo de síndromes mieloproliferativos en niños asignados a protocolos de TG 6,7 llevó en 2003 a la suspensión de varios de ellos. 8 Sin embargo, resultados más que alentadores, publicados recientemente en algunas de las revistas más prestigiosas del mundo, [9][10][11][12][13][14] han puesto nuevamente sobre el tapete a la TG y llevado a pensar que, finalmente, pueda cumplir con parte de las expectativas depositadas en ella dos dé-cadas atrás.…”