gene therapy

gene therapy   n.  The treatment of certain disorders, especially those caused by genetic anomalies or deficiencies, by introducing specific engineered genes into a patient's cells.

gene therapy

A promising technology that involves replacing a defective gene in the body with a healthy one. This can be done by removing cells from the body, using genetic engineering techniques to change defective sequences in the DNA, and then reinserting the cells. This technique has been carried out successfully, for example, on bone marrow cells, in which defective cells were successfully replaced with healthy, genetically engineered cells. Scientists hope to find an agent, such as a therapeutic virus, that will be able to correct defective DNA in situ. (See cloning vector.)

Main Entry: gene therapy
Function: noun
: the insertion of usually genetically altered genes into cells especially to replace defective genes in the treatment of geneticdisorders or to provide a specialized disease-fighting function (as the destruction of tumor cells) —gene therapist noun

gene therapy n.
A technique for the treatment of genetic disease in which a gene that is absent or defective is replaced by a healthy gene.

gene therapy   The treatment of a disorder or disease, especially one caused by the inheritance of a defective gene, by replacing defective genes with healthy ones through genetic engineering.