What’s the difference between gene therapy and cell therapy?

Both cell therapy and gene therapy research fields have similar goals in mind, that is to treat diseases by changing the blueprint to our bodies at a microscopic level but differ in how they do it. They make a big impact on our health.

 

Gene therapy:

Its the introduction, removal, or change in genetic material specifically DNA or its molecular cousin RNA in the cells of a patient to treat an inherited or developed disease. There are a couple of ways gene therapy can be administered.  Typically genetic material such as a working copy of a gene is transferred into the cell once in the cell the transferred genetic material such as working copy of a gene is transferred into the cell once in the cell the transferred genetic material changes how proteins are created so they can do the work for the gene that’s not functioning. A vector often a virus deliver the gene to the cell. Vectors are directly injected into the patient's body. The working gene is able to alter the behavior of the protein within the cell and thus cure the disease due to gene malfunction.

 

Cell Therapy:

It uses living and sometimes genetically modified cells to develop to help treat disease. These modified cells help can be from the patient or someone else. Cell therapy is routinely administered through blood transfusions. Genetically modified cell therapy is when a cell is removed from the body and the gene inside is altered and then it is put back in the body. This combines gene and cell therapy approaches. For example, in car-T cell therapy, we take an immune system cell usually a T Cell and we introduce a new gene into the cell carrying a specialized receptor that's been trained to only target molecules that on the surface of the cancer cells.  


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