Gene Therapy To Repair DNA Damage

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Repair of damaged DNA is of interest for advocates of healthy life extension; accumulated DNA damage is one root cause of age-related degeneration. It's likely to be a long haul to the introduction of technologies that can patch up varied wear and tear on DNA, but scientists can currently use gene therapies to repair specific classes of damage. As ScienceDaily reports, "Harnessing the strength of a natural process that repairs damage to the human genome, a researcher from UT Southwestern Medical Center has helped establish a method of gene therapy that can accurately and permanently correct mutations in disease-causing genes." This is useful in and of itself - many diseases have a basis in malformed genes - and we should see much more investment in this area in the years ahead.

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/06/050630062352.htm