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Biomedical subjects

A Irani

Publications and source records attributed to A Irani.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2003

Growth hormone treatment in a girl with Prader Willi syndrome.

Prader Willi syndrome (PWS) is a rare endocrine-metabolic disorder that is characterised by neonatal hypotonia, hyperphagia, marked obesity, short stature, hypogonadism and behavioural problems. 7-20% percent of these children develop diabetes mellitus. A large number of individuals with PWS show growth hormone (GH) deficiency. Recent studies indicate beneficial effects of GH replacement therapy not only for their linear growth but also for correction of metabolic dysfunction. In the present communication this article details about the therapeutic outcome in a girl with PWS who received recombinant growth hormone (rGH), Genotropin. Some carry-over therapeutic benefits have been observed even after discontinuation of rGH.

Adolescent↗
PubMedDate not supplied

The application of a lentiviral vector for gene transfer in fetal human hepatocytes.

BACKGROUND: The applications of traditional retroviral vectors are limited because proviral integrations into the host genome require DNA synthesis. Lentiviruses are considered to be advantageous because of their ability to infect non-dividing cells. METHODS: To demonstrate the potential of lentiviral vectors, we used a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1 virus encoding the green fluorescence protein (GFP) to infect fetal human hepatocytes. GFP-expressing cells were transplanted into the liver of Balb/C SCID mice via intrasplenic injection. RESULTS: Primary fetal hepatocytes incorporated the GFP reporter with high (30-40%) efficiency. A cell line derived from human fetal liver (HFL) exhibited similar transduction efficiency to the lentiviral vector. To demonstrate the relationship between lentiviral gene transfer and cell proliferation, cells were subjected to gamma-irradiation, which attenuated the replication of primary fetal hepatocytes. However, lentiviral gene transfer was unaffected by this decrease in cell proliferation. GFP expression in transduced cells was preserved during multiple passages in cell culture. When GFP-expressing cells were transplanted into the liver of Balb/C SCID mice via intrasplenic injection, GFP expression was observed throughout the 3 week duration of the study. CONCLUSION: These studies establish that human hepatocytes are amenable to lentiviral gene transfer with sustained transgene expression. Incorporation of lentiviral vectors will be helpful in testing strategies for hepatic gene therapy.

Adult↗