Gene therapy for inflammatory diseases is a new , burgeoning field of medicine. Edited by the undisputed pioneers of this area of research, this volume is the first devoted to its topic. It contains thirteen chapters, each written by leaders in their respective fields, that summarize the state of the art in developing novel, gene based treatments for inflammatory diseases. As well as providing an introduction to the basic concepts of gene therapy and the use of naked DNA approaches, the book describes the advances that have been made in applying them to arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Sjogren`s syndrome and transplantation.One chapter is devoted to discussing the first human clinical trials that apply gene therapy to the treatment of an inflammatory disease. As well as providing novel therapeutic approaches, gene therapy facilitates the development of new and improved animal models of disease; a chapter describing these advances is also included. As an up-to-date, timely book written by th

In this monograph about gene therapy of autoimmune and inflammatory d- orders we have gathered international experts and leaders from different fields to review the state of the art advances on topics ranging from disease entities to vectors and engineered cells. The different approaches described in each chapter take into consideration the biomedical knowledge of these diseases and address the complexities of delivering long-term genetic interventions. Gene therapy also serves as a testing ground for new therapeutic entities and helps provide proof of principle for their potential therapeutic role in animal models of disease. Scaling up from mice to men still remains an important h- dle not only from the quantitative point of view, but also for currently unknown and unexpected secondary effects of the vector or the transgene. Some of these approaches have already been tested in the clinic, but much more needs to be done to understand the human conditions treated and the n- ural history of their pathology. We are indebted to the secretarial assistance of Ms. Lin Wells (Bone and Joint Research Unit, London, UK) and the help of Hans Detlef Kluber for his help in getting this book published. We hope this book will be of interest to c- nicians and scientists and inspiring to students of the subject who will use their own ingenuity and knowledge to further forward this discipline into clinical use.

Gene therapy for inflammatory diseases is a new, burgeoning field of medicine. Edited by the undisputed pioneers of this area of research, this volume is the first devoted to its topic. It contains thirteen chapters, each written by leaders in their respective fields, that summarize the state of the art in developing novel, gene based treatments for inflammatory diseases. As well as providing an introduction to the basic concepts of gene therapy and the use of naked DNA approaches, the book describes the advances that have been made in applying them to arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, Sjogrens syndrome and transplantation.One chapter is devoted to discussing the first human clinical trials that apply gene therapy to the treatment of an inflammatory disease. As well as providing novel therapeutic approaches, gene therapy facilitates the development of new and improved animal models of disease; a chapter describing these advances is also included. As an up-to-date, timely book written by th