Q J Med 2003; 96: 873-874
© 2003 Association of Physicians
Biologic |
Misplaced
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In a recent trial of gene therapy for an immunodeficiency state (X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency disorder), two of eleven children developed leukaemia. The haematopoetic stem cells of the patents, from the bone marrow, had been transduced with a vector based on an onco-retrovirus, the murine leukaemia virus (MLV). The vector expressed the common gamma chain of the interleukin receptor. In the two leukaemic children, the leukaemic clone contained vector DNA that had integrated in the