Gene therapy and cell therapy are medical procedures that share some similarities. It is not uncommon for clinical and medical teams to use both gene therapy and cell therapy terms interchangeably, but differences exist between the two procedures.
Gene therapy is a medical procedure that delivers human genetic material to fight or prevent the development of a genetic disease. Doctors harvest healthy, normal genes from one source and use them to replace missing or defective genes in another location. Doctors also may use gene therapy when disease-causing variants corrupt a protein or to increase the proteins that fight an invading pathogen.
Cell therapy on the other hand focuses on the transfer of living cells, that may or may not include genetic material. Medical professionals must source the correct cells from a donor site to replicate the same function in a different body organ. Autologous cell therapy moves cells from one location to another in the same patient, while allogeneic cell therapy uses donor cells from other healthy individuals.
Gene therapy is a medical procedure that delivers human genetic material to fight or prevent the development of a genetic disease. Doctors harvest healthy, normal genes from one source and use them to replace missing or defective genes in another location. Doctors also may use gene therapy when disease-causing variants corrupt a protein or to increase the proteins that fight an invading pathogen.
Cell therapy on the other hand focuses on the transfer of living cells, that may or may not include genetic material. Medical professionals must source the correct cells from a donor site to replicate the same function in a different body organ. Autologous cell therapy moves cells from one location to another in the same patient, while allogeneic cell therapy uses donor cells from other healthy individuals.
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