Houston Center To Offer Cell, Gene Therapy http://ipn.intelihealth.com/ipn/ihtIPNNeuro?c=234652&t=11141 HOUSTON, Jul 27, 1999 (NYT Syndicate) — Three Houston medical institutions have created the world's first center for cell and gene therapy, a treatment option that is expected to become the future of medicine. The center — a partnership teaming Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children's Hospital and Methodist Hospital — will use new knowledge about the molecular basis of disease to revolutionize therapy for illnesses from cancer and AIDS to cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The start-up cost is estimated at about $30 million. "Centers like this will be at the forefront of a coming shift in the way disease is treated," said Dr. Malcolm Brenner, director of the center. "Not tomorrow, not 5 years from now, but 20 years from now, medicine won't be something you take in a bottle. It will be like surgery was going to be 50 years ago." The center was established in January 1998, but formally launched Monday, a couple weeks before the opening of a state-of-the-art, 25,000-square-foot, 15-bed inpatient adult stem cell transplant unit at Methodist. Texas Children's Hospital is currently constructing a similar unit that will be another part of the center. Cell and gene therapy, simply defined, is the placement of beneficial genes or cells into patient cells. Much heralded in the early 1990s, then stalled by scientific setbacks, it is finally starting to live up to its promise, thanks mostly to the Human Genome Project, the mammoth effort to locate and sequence all 100,000 genes on the 46 human chromosomes. Baylor is currently sharing an $80 million grant to complete the genome project. Gene therapy is ultimately expected to be used on embryos, first to prevent disease, later to enhance physical or mental characteristics. But Brenner said although such controversial work with embryos will happen, "at this stage" he doesn't plan to pioneer such treatment. The center will combine basic science and clinical research with comprehensive pediatric and adult cell-and-gene therapy transplant units. During the first five years, said Brenner, the focus will be on cancer therapy — bone marrow transplants — and AIDS protocols. In the next 10 years, added Brenner, treatment will move on to central nervous system disorders like Parkinson's and multiple sclerosis, where progress will likely come more slowly. Brenner said he envisions cell and gene therapy as treatment options to complement, but not replace, surgery, pharmaceuticals and radiation. He said these therapies might initially draw patients who have exhausted other forms of treatment, but ultimately will be best used as preventive medicine. Brenner currently supervises a staff of 20 clinical and research faculty members. Over the next five years, plans call for adding 30 more faculty and 300 support staff. Facilities housed at the International Center for Cell and Gene Therapy are the Pediatric Bone Marrow and Stem Cell Transplant Unit, the Gene Vector Laboratory, the Transitional Research Laboratory, the Cell and Molecular Therapy Laboratories, the Flow Cytometry Core Laboratories and the Shell Center for Gene Therapy. Examples of possible cell and gene therapy include research on the ability of stem cells to regenerate and change function, said Dr. Helen Heslop, director of the adult stem cell program at Methodist. Given the right circumstances, she said they may be used for brain or muscle cells, thus holding promise in the treatment of muscular dystrophy or degenerative multiple sclerosis. Heslop said another promising treatment is the development of a gene that would block HIV at an early stage. Aimed at stopping HIV patients from getting AIDS disease symptoms, it will likely be brought into clinical practice in the next couple years, she said. But Heslop, Brenner and other leaders stressed that the center, like all of medicine, will advance by tiny steps, not giant breakthroughs. They also said the flow of steady progress will justify the early 1990s hype. "I've been thinking of something like this for a long time," said Dr. Ralph Feigin, president and chief executive officer of Baylor. "I hope in 20 years it's known not only for treating patients in new ways, but also for training people who export this knowledge so patients around the world can benefit." ©1996-1998 Inteli-Health, Inc. -- Judith Richards, London, Ontario, Canada [log in to unmask] ^^^^ \ / \ | / Today’s Research \\ | // ...Tomorrow’s Cure \ | / \|/ `````