gene therapy
The insertion of genes into an individual’s cells and tissues to treat hereditary diseases where deleterious mutant alleles can be replaced with functional ones. The genes are usually put inside a non-pathogenic virus, which serves as the mechanism to penetrate the cells. Gene therapy can also be used to correct non-genetic deficiencies such as the loss of dopamine in Parkinson’s, to modify the function of a group of cells or to provide a source of growth factors.