[Transgenes and their medical applications].
Transgenesis consists of introducing stably a foreign genetic information into the genome of a multicellular organism. These techniques used for the first time in 1980 for the animals and 1983 for plants have multiple applications of which many are directly or not related to medicine. Transgenesis has become one of the essential tools to study the role of genes in the control of biological functions. This approach is logically accompanied by the generation of transgenic animal lines for the study of human diseases and the test of new pharmaceuticals. Milk from transgenic animals as well as leaves and seeds from transgenic plants are ready to become an essential source of proteins having essential therapeutical effects. Genetically modified pigs are expected to be resistant to rejection mechanisms to become the source of organs or cells for patients. The application of transgenesis in agriculture and breeding is still in infancy. It may contribute quite significantly to provide human communities with food in sufficient amount, having improved nutritional properties and produced using a milder and less polluting methods.
Houdebine
Louis-Marie
LM
Unité de biologie du développement et biotechnologie, institut national de la recherche agronomique, 78352 Jouy-en-Josas, France. houdebine@jouy.inra.fr
D000383:Agriculture; D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D005818:Genetic Engineering; D006801:Humans; D030821:Plants, Genetically Modified; D013552:Swine; D013812:Therapeutics; D014162:Transfection; D019076:Transgenes; D014183:Transplantation, Heterologous