GENE THERAPY--THE NEXT MILLENNIUM

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Gene therapy is a form of molecular medicine which will have a major impact on human health in the coming century. Although there are 300 clinical trials and over 6,000 patients enrolled, there has not yet been a successful outcome of gene therapy. Part of this failure can be attributed to the lack of an appropriate delivery system. Therefore the meeting is designed to discuss improved vector systems, where a wide variety of different delivery systems will be discussed. We plan to review both viral vectors and non-viral vectors. Additionally, the meeting is designed to ask the question as to what are the immunological consequences of introducing foreign genes. This will deal with both the cellular immune responses and the human immune responses. The meeting is also designed to ask what are the most useful and informative animal model systems. Additionally, we plan to discuss how the expression of the genes can be regulated. There are several sessions in the meeting which are designed to cover specific diseases as well as the various therapeutic modalities being considered for those diseases. There is also considerable emphasis on the study of stem cells because it is the general feeling that we have to know more about the stem cells which differentiate in order to understand how genes can be introduced and expressed for a sustained period of time. Overall the emphasis of the meeting is to ask the question of how improvements in basic vectorology, knowledge of immunology, and cell biology can be used to make systems of gene transfer which can give sustained expression of the foreign gene. The meeting is designed both for the practitioners of gene therapy as well as for students who are interested in the field of gene therapy. The meeting will also cater to industry because a lot of the successes of basic science will have to be transferred there, and the pharmaceutical industry will be extremely valuable. It is therefore the intention of this meeting to be able to bring together the basic scientists, the clinicians, the students and biotechnology representatives to be able to make gene therapy a reality as well as a routine practice of medicine.