Genetically engineered spider silk could help overcome a major barrier to the use of gene therapy in everyday medicine, according to a new study that reported development and successful initial laboratory tests of such a material. It appears in ACS’ journal Bioconjugate Chemistry. David Kaplan and colleagues note that gene therapy -- the use of beneficial genes to prevent or treat disease -- requires safe and efficient carriers or “vectors.” Those carriers are the counterparts to pills and capsules, transporting therapeutic genes into cells in the body. Safety and other concerns surround the experimental use of viruses to insert genes.
