More figured out in quest of how to do gene therapy

[elte]

"A virus can attach itself to a target cell by latching onto a molecule embedded in that cell's surface. In the case of adenovirus-associated virus, that viral-receptor molecule is already known. (The molecule obviously is there for some constructive purpose, which doesn't stop the invading virus from taking advantage of the mutual attraction.) Simply glomming on to the cell's surface isn't enough, though. To get to the all-important nucleus, where the genetic jewelry is ensconced, the virus has to penetrate the cell as well. Until now, the molecule on which adenovirus-associated virus hops a ride downtown was anybody's guess.

In the new study, Carette and his colleagues identified, in human cells, precisely that transport molecule. This discovery could lead to ways of raising or lowering the molecule's expression in different tissues so that therapeutic genes get delivered to their intended addresses, and nowhere else. "http://www.scivillage.com/newthread.php?fid=82

[C C]

It's kind of amazing that any delivery / cellular penetration mechanism already exists in nature, for its components to be recruited. Or that there's a beneficial consequence to the disease-causing, parasitical relationship of viruses upon "fully alive" organisms. Although that's arguably long been the case since a percentage of the human genome is composed of fragments of retroviruses and they have micro-shaped human evolution in other ways over the ages.

[elte]

That reminds me of how the mitochondria is basically a whole ancient bacteria that has been a component of cells for eons.