What is cell and gene therapy?
Cell and gene therapy are overlapping cutting-edge medical treatments that involve using living cells and genetic material to treat or potentially cure diseases.
Cell therapy uses living cells from the patient or donor to treat medical conditions. It is used to treat various conditions including blood disorders, infectious diseases, and certain cancers.
Gene therapy involves introducing, deleting, or modifying genetic material within a patient’s cells to treat or prevent disease. The goal is to correct faulty genes, provide therapeutic genes, or modulate gene expression to achieve therapeutic effects. It can be used to treat diseases such as genetic disorders, certain types of cancer, and neurological disorders.
In some cases, cell and gene therapy are used together to enhance the therapeutic effect.
Why is a clean environment so important?
There are several reasons why cell and gene therapy must be conducted in controlled or sterile environments like laboratories and cleanrooms.
1. To prevent contamination: Cell and gene therapy often involves the manipulation and modification of living cells, using viral vectors or other genetic material. Contamination could compromise therapeutic products' quality and safety and interfere with the desired genetic modifications. Read more >
