Gene therapy is a new area in medicine

Abstract

The review gives information on the history and areas of gene therapy development. It discusses the types of transgenes used to treat different diseases; specific and constitutional promoters that ensure the expression of therapeutic transgenes in targeted cells; procedures for delivering gene constructions into the targeted cells; and mechanisms by which the genetic material is introduced into the cell nucleus. The advantages and disadvantages of various types of viral and nonviral vectors are considered in detail. There is recent evidence on the clinical application of officinal drugs for gene therapy, which are registered for the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer (Gendicine and Oncorine, China), the monogenic disease lipoprotein lipase deficiency (Glybera, the Netherlands), or atherosclerotic lower extremity ischemia (Neovaskulgen, Russia), and on clinical tests of medications for gene therapy in different fields of medicine.