Quote:
Originally Posted by Fish
OK. That's a start. Now tell us why those barriers to gene therapy might still be present in 200 or so years. Why do you think those things are not able to be overcome?
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What's the one limitation to any potential SC transplant? The brain. We may make progress in every vital organ (heart included), but the neural structure of the brain is far too complex.
Let's say, hypothetically, that we made enough progress to harvest and transplant every organ using ECM and mesenchymal stem cells. Cool, right? We could help a lot of people. But what we'll end up seeing is a higher incidence of dementia/Alzheimer's and other neurological disorders. We have already seen that in the past 20-30 years simply because people are living longer.
Add in the fact that SC therapies are in the early stages, and most pt's who receive them are put on lifelong immunosupression. Essentially, you're trading one disorder for another at this point.