ยีนบำบัด (Gene Therapy)

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Gene Therapy is a cancer cure focusing on the cause of cancer, which is abnormal gene. The gene in cancerous cell will be analyzed for abnormality before providing therapy with specific medicine to such abnormal gene.

        Nowadays Thailand, gene therapy is significantly interested by the key doctor in a team who does the researches about abnormality of gene. Doctor Thongplew Prempri, the director of Oncology and Gene Therapy Center of Piyavate Hospital, an expertise of cancer cure with gene therapy who has used this kind of cure for 4 and a half years for more 50 patients. He told us about the gene therapy that;

    In the past, patients must be diagnosed by doctor as cancer sickness, and is curable. The type of cancer must be also defined, as well as the gene abnormality. The gene can be analyzed for 2 ways, which are:
  • Analyzing protein which is produced by the gene.
  • Analyzing Deoxy-riboNucleic Acid, or DNA, to find out the mutation and its kind because such mutation significantly affects the cure. After the patient is analyzed both from protein and DNA, we will determine how to cure. For example, if gene A is abnormal we will use anti-A drug. Since each cell of cancer consists of different gene abnormalities, sometime of abnormality we use specific anti for such gene. This kind of gene therapy is different from traditional cure, chemotherapy – or “Chemo”, which kills the cancerous cell for the unspecified whole body and also destroys the patient’s body cell. For Gene Therapy, it is provision of medicine to control dividing and growing of cancerous cell. Each type of medicine will specifically activate the target without destroying any normal cell. The specific activation only to abnormal gene results in minimal side effects and less torture for patient. There will not be falling hair, vomiting, and being tired as doing chemo. It will not destroy the immunity, so the patient can usually live and work.”

        In some case, this kind of cure is called “Targeted Therapy.”

         “The important point we would like to let the patients and people know is this kind of therapy has been used for 4-5 years, but we will never left the traditional way. The traditional way is used together with this new way, but with the lower trend, because of better response of specific cure. The medicine we use is synthesized from the laboratory with specific knowledge of gene, to assure that it will specifically cure the specified cancerous cell without destroying any other part of body. So far, the successful result equals to 65-70%, but most of our patients have ever been cured by other ways before. The 65-70% success is the overall result only. Trend of this therapy is coming to replace the traditional way because of worldwide interest. Therefore, within the short time, it will replace the chemo because it is totally optimal way of targeted therapy.”

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