Genetic Technology News

摘要

Call is to Drug Hits Cancer Two Ways; AVI Antisense Compounds Against Dengue Fever; GTC Transgenic Animals Produce Centocor Antibody; GTN Strategic Partners; Biotech Financing; Some Important Patents for You To Check. No cure is available for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS; Lou Gehrig's disease). It generally attacks healthy people in the prime of life. Degenerating nerve cells in their brains and spinal cords leads to a loss of muscle control and eventually to paralysis. Life expectancy drops tobetween two and five years. ALS affects about 30,000 people worldwide. Earlier genetic studies led Peter Carmeliet of the Catholic University of Leuven (K. U. Leuven) and the Flanders Intemniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) to report that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) seems to be involved. Now he has made a new study in cooperation with Oxford BioMedica plc, a spin-out of Oxford University, and found that gene therapy with VEGF appears to be a promising potential treatment for the disease.