Cystic Fibrosis

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Ways to cure Cystic Fibrosis

Since CF is a genteic disease, gene therapy can be used to cure it but at early age. The main concept behind gene therpay is that it can repair or replace the defective gene. At present, neither gene therapy or any other kind of treatment exists for the basic causes of cystic fibrosis. Over the years the method developed for better treatment have increased the average life expectancy of cystic fibrosis to nearly 30 years. In the meantime, the doctors can only ease the symptoms of CF and decrease the progress of the disease allowing the patient's life quality to be improved and increased. Physiotherapy several times every day to clear the lungs is critical. Antibiotics are used to treat any lung infection, and medications to open up the airways and losen the thick muscus. For patients whose disease is very advanced, lung transplantation may be an option.
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Cystic fibrosis can only be cured if safe and effective methods could be found to replace the defective CFTR gene with an intact gene in affected tissues. So Gene therapy not only treats symptoms but actually tackles the root cause of CF. Scientists are trying to think of a way to administer healthy CFTR genes to the patients through gene therapy. If all goes as planed, the DNA injected will help the cells to make the normal CFTR protein and cystic fibrosis will then be terminated. During such a treatment, shuttle vehicles called vectors deliver a functional copy ...

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