Cystic Fibrosis

        A type of treatment used to help the digestive system is a supplement of vitamins A, D, E and K these are taken along with a well balanced diet which is low in fat and high in calories, proteins and pancreatic enzymes.

        A new therapy that has been introduced is gene therapy. Gene therapy is where a faulty gene gets copied and then the faulty gene is replaced by the replica that is not faulty. Gene therapy does not treat the symptoms but can treat the cause of the disease instead. There are two ways in which the genes are transferred into the cells the first way is through viruses: the non faulty gene is placed into the virus that carries it to the cell. The adenovirus which is one of the causes of the common cold is an example of a virus that has been used. Another way in which genes are inserted into the cells is through liposomes which are fatty substances. The gene gets coated in the liposome which encourages the gene to enter the cell. The other treatments for cystic fibrosis take a lot of the patient’s time however they can increase life expectancy. After the gene for cystic fibrosis was identified by scientists a series of studies in the laboratory and eventually on humans they did studies into both viruses and liposomes. However there still challenges facing scientists one is getting the gene into the cell more efficiently because it will make the gene last longer, however this can be overcome with new developments into new viruses and liposomes. Another problem facing scientists is that they need to find out how long treatment should last until another treatment is needed; the parent cells that produce the defective gene need to be identified and scientist need to find out the life expectancy of the affected lung cells.  Scientists are now trying to find treatments that will help other organs affected by cystic fibrosis.

        There are different ethical issues surrounding the subject of gene therapy some people will argue if it is right for us to manipulate human genes?, are we playing God by trying to change our genetic make up? Also the question of what is a human being? Many people will answer this question as we are unique beings that have been made in the ‘image of God’. The issues surrounding gene therapy to help treat the disease cystic fibrosis are mainly personal as there can be agreement into the use of gene therapy to treat genetic diseases yet for purely cosmetical reasons i.e. changing your height are not seen as something that should be done.

        Personally I think that gene therapy should be use to treat genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis because some of the genetic diseases that people have to live with have no permanent cure and so they are wasting away the time they could use to live their lives on treatments that just hide the pain and take away the symptoms associated with the genetic disease they have. I don’t think that gene therapy should be used for cosmetical reasons e.g. altering height etc.

        In conclusion gene therapy is a good thing that can be used to help treat the causes of genetic diseases not just the symptoms that are associated with them. I think that eventually in the future there will be major developments into scientific technology which will enable scientists to come up with new treatments that work effectively to help treat the causes and symptoms of genetic diseases or research will be done into finding cures for these genetic diseases like cystic fibrosis.