Can Gene Therapy fix the placenta? New hope for fetal growth restriction: Conversation with Dr. Helen Jones, Part I

 If you're listening to this episode on placental gene therapy, you may wanna sit down.

Today's guest walks us through a gene therapy that (a) doesn't change the chromosomal DNA of the mother or the fetus; that (b) can reverse (you heard that right)--REVERSE placental insufficiency after it has taken hold, and as if that weren't enough, (c) has successfully restored fetal weight in growth, restricted Guinea pigs, passed safety checks in macaques and maybe in clinics as soon as five years from now.

To look at Dr. Helen Jones' work, see: https://physiology.med.ufl.edu/profile/jones-helen/

The paper we use as a scaffold for our conversation today: Placental Gene Therapy in Nonhuman primates: a pilot study of maternal, placental and fetal response to non-viral, polymeric nanoparticle delivery of IGF1: https://academic.oup.com/molehr/article/30/11/gaae038/7876288?login=false