Infect to cure

This concept may seem strange but more and more attempts are been made to treat incurable diseases with viruses.

Indeed it is possible today to treat genetic diseases caused by deficient genes with viruses. Viruses can transport DNA and implant it in cells.

We are talking about genetic therapy.  

This technique was first successful in 2000 when 2 « bubble-babies » whose immune systems were deficient and who could not survive in an unsterilized environment were cured. By introduing a retrovirus from a mouse into deficient cells these children have been able to leave their « bubbles ».

We are still discovering solutions in the cure of diseases for which there are no known medicines. Among them was the discovery in 2005 of a possible cure for cystic fibrosis using two deadly viruses AIDS and ebola.

By using HIV for its capacity to add genes to the host DNA cells and using ebola surface protein capacity in the cells of the lungs hopes to treat cystic fibrosis persist.

Genetic therapy is still underestimated and using such dangerous viruses may cause problems.