The interferons are another medically important group of peptides that became available in abundance only after the development of genetic engineering techniques (Bodmer & Mckie, 1995). Interferon was useful for treating viral infections, and there were strong indications that it might be effective against some cancers. Before the advent of genetic engineering techniques, it took laborious processing of thousands of units of human blood to obtain enough interferon to treat a few patients. Other medically useful human peptides that have been made widely available because of genetic engineering are human growth hormone, which is used to treat persons with congenital dwarfism and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA), which is a promising new treatment for persons who suffer a heart attack. With the development of retroviral vectors in the early 1980s, the possibility of efficient gene transfer into mammalian cells for the purpose of gene therapy became widely accepted.
Would you like to comment?
Join Diigo for a free account, or sign in if you are already a member.