Gene therapy technology applied to disorders of glucose metabolism: promise, achievements, and prospects

Gene transfer technology has spawned an entire realm of clinical investigation, collectively referred to as "gene therapy." The feasibility and achievements of gene therapy to prevent and treat glucose homeostasis disorders, with particular emphasis on diabetes mellitus, are evaluated in this review. While a considerable amount of effort has yielded gene delivery vectors based on adenoviral, retroviral, and herpes simplex virus DNA, the number of successful clinical applications has not been as impressive. Despite the number of successes in vitro and in animal models, preliminary safety trials in humans have not yet been attempted. The current state of this science, outlined here, underlines the necessity of marrying gene transfer technology with cell therapy. The ex vivo transfer of gene combinations into a variety of cell types will likely prove more therapeutically feasible than direct in vivo vector transfer. Current efforts aimed at assessing the future of gene therapy for diabetes must, at the very least, take into account the importance of moving successful methods into human safety trials.