New Laminitis Treatment Technique: Preliminary Study Performed

The purpose of our study was to determine if plasmid-mediated gene therapy in combination with electroporation was possible in the horse, particularly for the treatment of clinically important diseases such as laminitis.
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Gene therapy is a rapidly growing field of medicine that involves delivering a specific gene into the body to treat a specific disease. New study results generated from a research company based in Texas add to the body of evidence supporting the use of this technique to treat chronic conditions–such as laminitis–in horses and other large mammals.

In this study, researchers from VGX Animal Health in The Woodlands, Texas, injected horses intramuscularly with a plasmid (a small, nonreplicating fragment of DNA) that contained the gene for growth hormone-releasing hormone (GHRH)–a potent hormone that can increase the production of both growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 to offset the development of arthritis and other chronic conditions, including laminitis.

After injecting the hormone, the scientists applied electroporation (delivery of electric pulses through the skin) to temporarily "open" the horse’s cells. This improves the uptake of the plasmid, resulting in enhanced delivery of the GHRH gene

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Written by:

Stacey Oke, MSc, DVM, is a practicing veterinarian and freelance medical writer and editor. She is interested in both large and small animals, as well as complementary and alternative medicine. Since 2005, she’s worked as a research consultant for nutritional supplement companies, assisted physicians and veterinarians in publishing research articles and textbooks, and written for a number of educational magazines and websites.

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