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

DATE: SUNDAY, May 30, 1993                   TAG: 9305300115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FINE-TUNING TREATMENT BY SEPARATING CELLS

In early May, Cindy Cutshall went through a second kind of gene therapy that scientists hope will provide a wider-ranging and longer-lasting benefit.

Her current treatment of T cells leaves gaps in her immune system's repertoire for responding to germs, and the corrected T cells will eventually age and die.

So the new treatment aimed to plant the crucial gene in stem cells, which are found in the bone marrow and give rise to all cells in the blood. If all goes as planned, the corrected stem cells will come to dominate the marrow and continuously pass along the crucial gene to the populations of blood cells they produce.

To do the therapy, scientists gave Cindy a drug to make stem cells leave her marrow and enter the bloodstream. Then blood was drawn and scientists separated out the stem cells. In the laboratory, a virus was used to carry the helpful gene into the cells.

The cells were then infused back into Cindy's veins, where they would naturally return to the marrow.

It will take three months to six months to know if the treatment has worked.

Ashi DeSilva is scheduled to undergo the same treatment later this summer.

by CNB