X-Message-Number: 24994 From: "The NanoAging Institute" <> Subject: Great News: Development of an Innovative Technique of Gene Therapy: Exon Skipping Date: Mon, 8 Nov 2004 04:50:39 -0500 PARIS, France, November 4 /PRNewswire/ -- A team of researchers at Genethon, the laboratory created and financed by the Association Francaise contre les Myopathies (AFM) thanks to the French Telethon donations, has succeeded in repairing the muscles of mice models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy thanks to a gene therapy called 'exon skipping'. The exon skip occurs during the intermediate phase between the gene and the protein at the moment of splicing (1), and allows production of a truncated but functional protein to be restored. This advance illustrates the progress made in gene therapy techniques over the last ten years. By now, these techniques have become very sophisticated and, by intervening directly on the message of the gene, they open new therapeutic prospects for genetic diseases. This work was carried out by a Genethon team led by Olivier Danos and Luis Garcia (CNRS UMR 8115) in collaboration with researchers at the Cochin Institute in Paris. It is published today by the magazine Science in its online edition Science Express. http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/041104/ukth016_1.html Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=24994