Gene Therapy and Regenerative Medicine / 全日本鍼灸学会雑誌

ABSTRACT

Clinical trials of gene therapy have been extensively performed in the world. Actual methods in many types of clinical gene therapy are simply injections of gene transfer vectors and are thus similar to conventional treatments; some of clinical gene medicine may be realized in general practices in near future. On the other hand, regenerative medicine is classified to two types. One is an induction of tissue regeneration within a body using a certain stimulator. The organs to which this strategy can be applied are limited although this type is an ideal treatment. The other is a reconstructive cell transplantation therapy using pluripotent embryonic stem (ES) cells, which may potentially replace current organ transplantation. Clinical trials of regenerative medicine using bone marrow cells have been performed although their scientific mechanism remains controversial. Importantly, the development and the clinical application of these innovative therapies should proceed with the same aims toward the same goals as acupuncture and moxibustion; i.e., they should also have a close relationship with the Western and the Oriental medicine and the same values of the medical treatment for the whole man.