A patient received bone marrow modified by an adeno-associated virus (AAV)carrying a human gene that encodes an enzyme her body could not make.This is an example of
A)protein therapy.
B)germline gene therapy.
C)somatic gene therapy.
D)retroviral gene therapy.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

This is an example of somatic gene therapy because the modification only took place in the patient's bone marrow cells and did not affect their germ cells (eggs/sperm) which could pass on the modified gene to future generations. The use of adeno-associated virus (AAV) also indicates that this therapy involves gene delivery using a non-integrating viral vector, unlike retroviral gene therapy which uses integrating retroviruses. Protein therapy involves administration of proteins directly rather than altering genes, while germline gene therapy involves modifying germ cells to pass on the changes to future generations (which was not done in this case).

A Patient Received Bone Marrow Modified by an Adeno-Associated Virus