Gene therapy thwarts hepatitis C in mice
By Nathan Seppa
Gene therapy that induces infected liver cells to self-destruct slows hepatitis C dramatically in mice, scientists report.
Christopher D. Richardson of the Ontario Cancer Institute in Toronto and his colleagues implanted human liver cells into mice and infected the animals with the hepatitis C virus. The researchers then gave the mice three injections. Some got a self-destruct gene housed in an adenovirus that shuttles the gene into liver cells. Others received adenovirus without the therapeutic gene.