FRENCH gene-therapy pioneers are to resume their treatment of “bubble-boy” babies after the suspension of their trial in January 2003, when two of the children developed leukaemia. “Our trial reopened last summer, and we are now under way to treat three patients,” says Alain Fischer, head of the team at the Necker Hospital for Sick Children in Paris.
Until the leukaemia cases emerged, the trial had been seen as a rare success for gene therapy. The team successfully treated 10 infants with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID-X1), a gene defect which prevents the boys’ immune systems from developing properly. To…
