Injecting gene into heart muscle may replace pacemaker

[riky]

Injecting gene into heart muscle may replace pacemaker

<p><a href="http://news.yahoo.com/injecting-gene-heart-muscle-may-replace-pacemaker-223414959.html"><img src="http://l1.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/QwcmEXKm9XgHeUEdXEfn5w--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7Zmk9ZmlsbDtoPTg2O3E9NzU7dz0xMzA-/http://media.zenfs.com/en_us/News/afp.com/bed8b6e0d64e708bbda0f841c4fe0649cf2f7f96.jpg" width="130" height="86" alt="A surgeon implants a pacemaker into a patient in an operating room, on July 19, 2013 in a Paris suburb" align="left" title="A surgeon implants a pacemaker into a patient in an operating room, on July 19, 2013 in a Paris suburb" border="0" /></a>Injecting a certain gene into cardiac muscle has been shown in animal studies to help a weakened heart beat more strongly, scientists said Wednesday. &quot;This development heralds a new era of gene therapy, where genes are used not only to correct a deficiency disorder, but actually to convert one type of cell into another to treat disease,&quot; said lead author Eduardo Marban, director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. Gene therapy has long been viewed as a promising but risky field, particularly after early attempts to use it in people in the 1990s showed it could be dangerous and even fatal. Marban said the use of a mild virus as a delivery vector for the gene should reduce concerns that typically arise in gene therapy, such as the potential for a deadly immune reaction or the possibility that the process could lead to the formation of a tumor, but acknowledged that more research is needed.</p><br clear="all"/>

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