Sample Informative Outline

Name:

Date:

Title: Gene Therapy: It Can Save Your Life.

Purpose: To inform my audience of the new advances gene therapy has made in the research of

genetic disorders.

Thesis: Gene therapy is aiding the fight against diseases.

Preview: In discussing gene therapy, we will consider what it is and how it has made medical

advances in ADA, cancer and cystic fibrosis.

Type of Organizational Pattern: Topical

Introduction

I. Imagine yourself living in a sterile bubble for twelve years of your life.

A. You can’t go outside on a pretty day and run, feel the sunshine, or play a game of baseball or

softball.

B. You can’t touch people, not even your family, through your bubble.

C. You can’t go to school and meet friends.

II. For David, the “bubble boy,” this was a stark reality (“Bubble Boy” 51).

III. David had ADA, a genetic disease which prevents the body’s immune system from fighting

something as simple as a common cold or as serious as pneumonia (Griffin 779).

IV. David died from complications following a bone marrow transplant (“Bubble Boy” 51 ).

V. We have now developed gene therapy, a technique that can cure ADA and possibly other diseases in

the future (Culliton 429).

VI. In discussing gene therapy, we will consider what it is and how it has made medical advances in

ADA, cancer and cystic fibrosis. 2

Body

I. Let’s consider what a gene is and how gene therapy works.

A. Genes are often compared to “ladders.”

1. First, the 46 pockets of chromosomes in each cell of the body are the support of the

“ladders” (Griffin 784).

[Model 2. Second, when the “ladder” or DNA is unwound from the chromosomes it is approximately used here] 5 feet long and only a billionth of an inch wide (Freeman).

3. Third, the rungs of the “ladder” are comprised on four different kinds of bases which make

up the genetic code (Brownlee, Silberne 66).

4. Fourth, it is the sections of these rungs arranged in different orders from a few to more than

two million bases that are considered genes (Freeman).

B. The code of the genes determines what kind of protein each gene produces to maintain the

body’s health (Griffin 784).

C. Gene therapy involves preparing healthy genes and inserting them into the body where there are

defective genes (Carey, Hamilton, McWilliams 78).

1. A defective gene can develop from a mix-up in one of the three billion base pairs (Griffin

784).

2. Gene therapy aids these defective genes by making good genes and attaching them to

nonharmful viruses or “vehicles” that carry them into the body to produce the right protein

(Carey, Hamilton, McWilliams 78).

II. There have been many advances in gene therapy since 1990.

A. On September 14, 1990, the first human gene therapy test was performed on a 4 year old girl with

ADA in a complex gene therapy procedure, yet the medical procedure was rather simple (Griffin

779). 3

1. The new healthy genes had to be engineered by Dr. French Anderson and his colleagues,

Michael Blaese and Kenneth Culver, at the National Institutes of Health in Gaithersburg,

Maryland (Carey, Hamilton, McWilliams 78).

a. They began by removing T-cell lymphocytes which attacked disease in the little girl

(Griffin 779).

b. Next, they added healthy ADA genes into these cells and put them inside a “vehicle” or

virus (Brownlee, Silberne 69).

2. One billion of these good cells were given to the girl.

3. The blood infusion took 30 minutes (Griffin 779).

4. The results were encouraging since her body began making the needed protein (Carey,

Hamilton, McWilliams 79).

B. The second gene therapy experiment was conducted by Steven Rosenberg in Bethesda, Maryland,

on two people with malignant melanoma, a lethal skin cancer (Angier A1+).

1. The procedure in diagnosing cancer is different from that of ADA.

a. The procedure began by extracting tumor cells from the patients and inserting a gene that

produces tumor neurosis factor (TNF) which kills tumors (Toufexis 82).

b. Once again they were infused with 100 million cells in a simple 20 minute procedure

(Angier A1+).

2. There is another procedure being tested on laboratory animals that hopefully will cure several

forms of cancer (Carey, Hamilton, McWilliams 79).

a. First an antigen, which is a protein that provokes the body’s immune system, is added

to a liposome, which is the fat around a gene (Carey, Hamilton, McWilliams 79).

b. The genes containing liposomes are then injected into the tumor where they are

swallowed by the tumor, thus stimulating the immune system (Carey, Hamilton,

McWilliams 79). 4

c. The disease fighting T-cells are then released because of the stimulation from the

immune system which kills the antigens (protein that provokes the immune system)

and in the process kills the tumor (Carey, Hamilton, McWilliams 79).

C. Advances are also being made in finding a cure for cystic fibrosis to help those who might be one

of the 12 million Americans who carry the defective gene (Detjen).

1. Although there have been no human tests of cystic fibrosis gene therapy yet, Ronald Crystal

of the National Institute of Health and his French colleagues have designed an aerosol

through gene therapy that will help cystic fibrosis and other lung disease sufferers (Detjen).

a. The aerosol is composed of adenoviruses, or those that cause the common cold (Suplee).

b. The corrective gene is added into the adenoviruses which are the “vehicles” that carry

the gene into its proper place in the lungs (“Cold Comfort” 86).

2. This process of gene therapy stimulates rats to produce the desired protein; but, rats do not

suffer from cystic fibrosis so it is too early to tell if this method will be effective in people

(“Cold Comfort” 87).

D. Another process for curing cystic fibrosis is being found in the milk of mice (“Cold Comfort” 87).

1. Researchers at Genzyme Corporation in Framingham, Massachusetts, have added good cystic

fibrosis genes into embryos of mice (Silberner 73).

2. The milk from the mice is then made into an aerosol in which the corrective genes go straight

to the lungs to prevent the mucus build-up (“Cold Comfort” 87).

E. There are gene therapy experimentations on such medical problems as AIDS, cholesterol, and

other genetic disorders.

Conclusion

I. As you can tell, gene therapy is a complex process that has made startling medical advances.

II. If only David could have waited in his bubble for six more years, gene therapy possibly could have

given him a normal life. 5

Works Cited

Angier, Natalie. “For First Time, Gene Therapy is Tested on Cancer Patients.” New York Times 30 Jan. 1991, A1+.

Brownlee, Shannon, and Joanne Silberner. “The Age of Genes.” US News & World Report 4 Nov. 1991: 64-67.

The Bubble Boy’s Lost Battle.” Time 5 Mar. 1984: 51.

Carey, John, Joan Hamilton, and Gary McWilliams. “The Gene Doctors Roll Up Their Sleeves.” Business Week 30 Mar. 1992: 78-82.

“Cold Comfort.” The Economist 8 Feb. 1992: 86-87.

Culliton, Barbara J. “Gene Therapy on the Move.” Nature 12 Dec. 1991: 429.

Detjen, Jim. “Aerosol Gene Therapy May Treat Lung Disease.” Philadelphia Inquirer 19 Apr. 1991. Newsbank, Science, 1991, fiche, 15 grid A9.

Freeman, Stan. “Human Gene Work Raises New Question.” Sunday Republican 3 Nov. 1991. Newsbank, Science, 1991, fiche 38, grid A14.

Griffin, Rodman D. “Gene Therapy.” CQ Researcher. Ed. Sandra Stencel. Washington: Congressional Quarterly, 1991. 778-95.

Silberner, Joanne. “Following the Blueprint of a deadly Inherited Disease.” US News & World Report 4 Nov. 1991: 73.

Surplee, Curt. “Nasal Gene Therapy May Repair Lung Disorders.” Washington Post 19 Apr. 1991. Newsbank, Science, 1991, fiche 15, grid A7.

Toufexis, Anastasia. “Using Cancer to Fight Cancer.” Time 21 Oct. 1991: 82.