The Union health ministry has decided to draft guidelines for gene therapy and xenografting to define the limits of research keeping in view the ethical aspects involved. Infact, in the case of gene therapy, there is a move to limit its unnecessary experimentation on humans.
While gene therapy is the insertion of genes into an individual’s cells and tissues to treat diseases, such as hereditary diseases, xenografting involves using cells or tissues of one species to graft into a different species.
Confirming the move, director-general of Indian Council of Medical Research, Dr V.M. Katoch, said, “We are drafting the guidelines for gene therapy and xenografting because a lot of cutting edge research is happening in these fields. The guidelines will seek to limit the research of gene therapy to stop adventurous experimentation on humans till results are proven.”
“Introduction of one gene may destroy the delicate balance of other genes, thereby resulting in side effects. So this could only be approached through a holistic examination of all the different factors included in such a practice,” Dr Katoch added.
On xenografting, Dr Katoch said, “There are ethical considerations of the use of animals’ parts for xenografting in order to save a human life. Yuk factor (revulsion over the fact that someone has an animal’s body parts inside him), unnaturalness, theological concerns, misuse of animals, prolonging the life man at the cost of animals are some of the questions that need to be dealt with an objectivity. We are having discussions with experts. The guidelines will be ready by the end of year 2010,” he further added.
The guidelines will be formulated by ICMR, while their implementation will be regulated by Drugs Control General of India once the guidelines are put in place.
A case of xenotransplantation had happened in 1997 when a surgeon from Assam transplanted a pig’s heart in a human who survived for seven days. The surgeon was arrested and later released. Xenotransplantation is banned while grafting of some tissues is allowed.
Diseases such as cancer can be targeted using gene therapy. Genes can be introduced into tumours to directly kill cancerous cells or make them more susceptible to chemotherapy drugs. Alternatively gene therapy can be used to manipulate the immune system to help the body’s natural defences recognise and target cancer cells or infectious agents such as viruses.