Altered Fates: Gene Therapy and the Retooling of Human Life

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Product Description A detailed narrative considers the unprecedented medical revolution in gene therapy, the combination of genetics and reproductive technology, and the replacement of defective genes to prevent disease, and includes the human passion, jealousy, politics, and drama behind the scenes. Amazon.com Review I worked as a programmer for the Human Genome Mapping Library Project with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute several years ago, and have been waiting for thebook that could clearly explain to my friends and relatives what it was that I and the thousands of other folks sequencing human DNA were really up to. Finally, Lyon and Gorner have written a book that deals with the most profound and compelling implications of this work: gene therapy, or the possibility of bypassing symptoms of diseases by dealing instead with their root genetic. Although this well-researched and comprehensive volume might be a bit much for the casual reader, it is a masterful and colorful work filled with facts, personalities, and politics that would appeal to anyone with a real interest in understanding the history -- and possible futures -- of gene therapy. From Publishers Weekly In 1990 Ashanthi DeSilva, a four-year-old suburban Cleveland girl with a life-threatening, hereditary immune disorder, made medical history when doctors at the National Institutes of Health successfully treated her by inserting new genetic material into her cells and reprogramming them to produce an essential enzyme. The first half of this epic, magnificent history of gene therapy retraces years of tortuous research culminating in that breakthrough, which was the work of NIH molecular biologist William French Anderson and his colleagues. Also highlighted is National Cancer Institute immunotherapist Steven Rosenberg, who uses gene therapy to destroy cancerous cells. In the book's second half, Lyon and Gorner, who won a 1987 Pulitzer for their Chicago Tribune series on gene therapy, survey the field's potential to diagnose and treat cystic fibrosis, heart disease, cancer, schizophrenia, manic depression, alcoholism and many other illnesses and to retard the aging process. The authors are optimistic that gene therapy will revolutionize medicine. Author tour. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library Journal Chicago Tribune reporters Lyon and Gorner revisit their Pulitzer Prize-winning series on genetic research and therapy in this absorbing look at arguably the most important developments in the history of medicine: identifying and changing human genes for therapeutic purposes ranging from treating various cancers to curing genetic defects like cystic fibrosis. The authors face two challenges. First, their field, while changing constantly, still hasn't produced a definitive "magic bullet" that actually fixes something (this always seems just around the corner). Second, they seek to explain to lay readers a subject whose researchers sport an alphabet soup of advanced degrees; this is serious science. They do very well; literate and patient readers will learn a great deal fairly painlessly. The book suffers mildly from the lack of a bibliography and from a style that occasionally borders on newspaperese. Still, this is an important work against which comparable works for general readers should be measured. Mark L. Shelton, Worcester, Mass. Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Booklist Lyons and Gorner present the science, scientists, and ethics of a technology destined to have as great an impact on humanity's fate as nuclear weapons: genetic manipulation. Behind all the sci-fi horror of genetic eugenics, this pair of Chicago Tribune reporters unveil the tangible possibility of curing thousands of inherited diseases, in addition to viral ones such as AIDS. The geniuses of biochemistry have developed the techniques of gene therapy--conceptually, the transplant of properly coded genes for defective ones--and have alr