Some critics have warned that the use of gene therapy to...

Question

Some critics have warned that the use of gene therapy to correct genetic disorders will affect the course of human evolution. Evaluate this criticism in light of what you know about population genetics and evolution, distinguishing between somatic gene therapy and germ-line gene therapy.

Accepted Answer

Hello, everyone and welcome to today's video. So, one of the prerequisites for gene therapy includes choosing the best delivery system. Most often viral vectors are used by current research involves packaging genes into nanoparticles are then targeted to cancer cells, thereby killing cancer cells specifically and leaving healthy cells unharmed, which are the following side effects of using viral vectors in fixing genetic mutations could be present. What? Remember that when we use the virus and we introduce it into our system is going to be a foreign molecule or a foreign group of molecules and our system is going to react to it by creating an immune response. Now knowing this, let's go over each of our answer choices so that we may solve the problem. Well, first of all, we have answer choice. A they cannot be eliminated from the human system. We'll remember that since we're going to have an Indian response taking place, eventually, certain anti bodies are going to be able to eliminate these viruses. So this is incorrect and we're going to cancel it out, then we have b they can replicate uncontrollably. Remember that these viruses are going to be the same boat. So they won't be able to replicate within the cells, were going to cancel this out as well. And then we have c they'll take over healthy cells for the same reason, they won't be able to take over healthy cells, healthy cells like regular virus would do. In order to replicate, we're going to cancel this out too and then we can trigger an immune response. And this is exactly what we're talking about at the beginning, since we're introducing a virus, which is a foreign particle into our system, this can trigger an immune response which can lead to other diseases arising. Because of this answer. Choice C is going to be the correct answer to our question. We're going to highlight it as a final answer. I really hope this video helped you and I hope to see you on the next one.

Struggling with Genetics?

Some critics have warned that the use of gene therapy to correct genetic disorders will affect the course of human evolution. Evaluate this criticism in light of what you know about population genetics and evolution, distinguishing between somatic gene therapy and germ-line gene therapy.

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