
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, April 19, 1991                   TAG: 9104190108
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

SCIENTISTS PUT HUMAN GENE IN RAT, SEE IT WORK NORMALLY

A normal human gene has been transferred directly into the cells of living laboratory animals in what may be an important step toward genetic treatment for inherited respiratory diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

National Institutes of Health scientists report in the journal Science today that they used an inactivated virus of the common cold to carry the human gene into the lung cells of live rats and that the transferred gene then performed its normal function.

Dr. Ronald Crystal, director of the pulmonary branch of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, said the technique eventually may be applied to correct the genetic flaw that causes cystic fibrosis and a form of emphysema, alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency.

"The two most common lethal hereditary diseases in the United States are alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency and cystic fibrosis," Crystal said. "Both are lethal because of the respiratory manifestations."

He said if a way could be found to correct the flawed genes in the lung tissues of victims of these diseases, then the fatal effects of the disorders could be avoided.

by CNB