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Down's syndrome cells 'fixed' in first step towards chromosome therapy

paddymcdougall said:
It's a tough one. If something like sickle cell anemia can be fixed, that would be very cool.

But what happens if we turn off the gene? or the one for Down's Syndrome? will something else get affected?
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In the case of sickle cell anemia the answer is 'Yes'. Sickle cell anemia requires both parents to pass on their sickle cell gene (allele). A person having only one gene has milder symptoms and recovers faster from malaria. Of all the genetic problems we might "cure", sickle cell is one we probably shouldn't tamper with. It would be good to adjust the genetics for a particular individual if we can do it without changing their reproductive genetics but eradicating it would IMO not be a good idea.
 
MoSurveyor said:
In the case of sickle cell anemia the answer is 'Yes'. Sickle cell anemia requires both parents to pass on their sickle cell gene (allele). A person having only one gene has milder symptoms and recovers faster from malaria. Of all the genetic problems we might "cure", sickle cell is one we probably shouldn't tamper with. It would be good to adjust the genetics for a particular individual if we can do it without changing their reproductive genetics but eradicating it would IMO not be a good idea.
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See? right away I get proven wrong with my "obvious" example. We just don't know enough to be messing with people's genetics. Thanks for the info; I had no idea about the malaria protection. That's pretty cool.
 
paddymcdougall said:
See? right away I get proven wrong with my "obvious" example. We just don't know enough to be messing with people's genetics. Thanks for the info; I had no idea about the malaria protection. That's pretty cool.
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It would be great if we could control fertilization enough to make sure only one sickle cell gene got to the fetus. :)
 
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