6/06/2011 PERMALINK
Inhalable gene therapy made possible. Very small circular therapeutic DNA molecules can survive the stress of aerosolization (being forced into suspension in air) to carry gene therapy deep into the lungs. , Developed in the laboratory of Dr. Lynn Zechiedrich at Baylor College of Medicine and The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, unlike existing vectors that are typically modified viruses. These new circular DNA strands survive longer than plasmids (large DNA circles containing bacterial sequences that can be turned off in human cells) and continue to work longer than small interfering RNAs, which are used now to turn off genes in the laboratory setting. The ability to get deep in the lungs means that the DNA could be used to rejuvenate aging or damaged lungs.