Molecular Therapeutics

Prologue 1 Introduction 1.1 Microbial diseases 1.2 Cancer and heart disease 1.3 Genetic diseases 1.4 Role of molecular biology in therapeutics 2 Prenatal diagnosis and pre implementation 2.1 Should we treat inherited diseases? 2.2 Genetic screening 2.2.1 Pre implementation genetic diagnosis 2.3 Counselling 3 Simple protein replacement therapy 3.1 Preventing transfusion transmissible infectious diseases in the UK 3.2 Ensuring the safety of organ transplants 3.3 Preventing transfusion transmissible infectious diseases worldwide 3.4 HIV 4 Recombinant protein production 4.1 Choice of organism 4.2 Alternatives to E. coli for the production of recombinant proteins 4.3 Problems with recombinant protein production 4.4 All recombinants must be tested before they are given to humans 4.5 Why make recombinant proteins? 4.6 Recombinant products 4.7 Generics 5 Recombinant vaccines 5.1 Vaccine history 5.2 Vaccines 5.3 Vaccine methods 5.4 Types of vaccine 5.5 The limitations of vaccine programmes 5.6 The role of the WHO 5.7 Problems specific to developing countries 5.8 Economics and logistics of vaccinology 5.9 Recombinant vaccines 5.10 Rational design: bioinformatics and proteomics 5.11 Other interesting areas for vaccine development 5.12 Conclusion 6 Therapeutic antibodies and immunotherapy 6.1 Monoclonal antibodies 6.2 Monoclonal production 6.3 Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies 6.4 Transgenic monoclonals 6.5 The uses of monoclonal antibodies in therapy 6.6 Specific examples of therapeutic strategies 6.7 Other recombinant proteins used in immunotherapy 7 Transgenic animals 7.1 Why do we want to engineer the genomes of animals? 7.2 Experimental procedure 7.3 DNA constructs, insertional mutagenesis and homologous recombination 7.4 Uses of inducible and tissue specific promoters 7.5 Introduction of the DNA into the cells 7.6 Uses of transgenics 8 Transplantation: a form of gene therapy 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Bone marrow 8.3 Solid organ transplantation 8.4 Other cells and tissues 8.5

Pamela Greenwell is Principal Lecturer at The University of Westminster. She leads a research team in glycobiology, molecular biology and bioinformatics and is actively involved with enabling research in clinical trials between academics, industry and Primary Care Trusts.

Michelle McCulley has a background in human genetics and experience teaching a broad range of students and health professionals, she is currently a Senior Teaching fellow at the Peninsula Medical School.

"This book should be useful to lecturers who teach senior undergraduates, graduate students, and students in the biomedical sciences in general. More globally, Greenwell and McCulley s book should encourage academicians of any stripe who for some time have been honing their lectures in a niche subject area to turn their courses into textbooks." ( Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Education , November/December 2008)