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I saw a special on TV about six months ago showing how they are trying gene therapy for bad disc disease. I would be really interested in being part of these studies -- even if only as a human guinea pig. How do I sign up?
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Efforts to find ways to heal and/or restore degenerative discs have been in the mix for quite some time now. Most of the studies have been on animals such as mice, rats, rabbits, minipigs, and other small animals.
Gene therapy is one of several forms of treatment for degenerative disc disease referred to as biologic therapy. The healthy replacement gene is attached to a transportation unit called a vector (like a taxicab driver who takes you where you are going).
Most gene transfer methods use viruses as the vector. This works well to get the gene inside the cell but then the immune system starts to kill off the viral vector. The result may be illness from the virus as well as a die-off of the genes.
Gene therapy is a favored form of biologic therapy because no injection is required. Most of the other biologic therapies are injected into the disc. The injection damages the cells and sets up an inflammatory response that can make things worse instead of better.
No direct studies have been done in this area yet on humans. There are other types of biologic therapies under investigation as well. Like gene therapy, most are still being done in animals. The switch from animals to humans will only take place when the techniques have been proven safe and effective in animal studies.
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