Hemophilia A is an inherited bleeding disease caused by a lack of the blood clotting protein Factor VIII. It had been hoped that gene therapy would provide a breakthrough in treatment, but the most common gene therapy approach has had little clinical success. However, a team of researchers, at the...
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Over 90 percent of patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder, no longer needed monthly blood transfusions years after receiving gene therapy, according to an international Phase 3 clinical trial that for the first time included children younger than 12 years of age. Twenty-two patients were evaluated (ranging in...
Toronto, Canada – When Michael Pirovolakis received an individualized gene therapy in a single-patient clinical trial at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in March 2022, the course of his condition was dramatically altered. Michael has spastic paraplegia type 50 (SPG50), an “ultra-rare” progressive neurodegenerative disorder that causes developmental delays,...
Sidney, Australia – In a worldwide first-of-its-kind study published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications this week, a team of scientists from Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI) tested novel gene therapies in a whole human liver, with the goal of developing more effective treatments for life-threatening inherited diseases. Gene therapy...
Boston, Mass. – A new study co-led by investigators from Mass Eye and Ear, a member of Mass General Brigham, demonstrated the effectiveness of a gene therapy towards restoring hearing function for children suffering from hereditary deafness. In a trial of six children taking place at the Eye & ENT...
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – An investigational gene therapy has successfully restored immune function in all nine children treated with the rare and life-threatening immune disorder called severe leukocyte adhesion deficiency-I, or LAD-I, in an international clinical trial co-led by UCLA. LAD-I is a genetic condition that affects approximately one in...
PHILADELPHIA, PA— The vision of people with a rare inherited condition that causes them to lose much of their sight early in childhood was 100 times better after they received gene therapy to address the genetic mutation causing it. Some patients even experienced a 10,000-fold improvement in their vision after...
Boston, Massachusetts – Cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CALD) is a rare progressive, genetic brain disease that primarily presents in young boys, causing loss of neurological function and ultimately leading to early death. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, Boston Children’s Hospital, and collaborators...
University of Florida researchers have come up with a new gene therapy method to disrupt cancer growth by using a synthetic protein to induce blood clotting that cuts off a tumor’s blood and nutrient supply. In mice implanted with human colorectal cancer cells, tumor volume decreased 53 percent and cancer...
Bethesda, MD – In a proof-of-concept study, researchers demonstrated the effectiveness of a potential new therapy for Timothy syndrome, an often life-threatening and rare genetic disorder that affects a wide range of bodily systems, leading to severe cardiac, neurological, and psychiatric symptoms as well as physical differences such as webbed...