Gene drives to fight malaria: current state and future directions.

Gene drives to fight malaria: current state and future directions. Pathog Glob Health. 2018 Feb 19;:1-12 Authors: Hammond AM, Galizi R Abstract Self-propagating gene drive technologies have a number of desirable characteristics that warrant their development for the control of insect pest and vector populations, such as the malaria-transmitting mosquitoes. Theoretically easy to deploy and self-sustaining, these tools may be used to generate cost-effective interventions that benefit society without obvious bias related to wealth, age or education. Their species-specific design offers the potential to reduce environmental risks and aim to be compatible and complementary with other control strategies, potentially expediting the elimination and eradication of malaria. A number of strategies have been proposed for gene-drive based control of the malaria mosquito and recent demonstrations have shown proof-of-principle in the laboratory. Though several technical, ethical and regulatory challenges remain, none appear insurmountable if research continues in a step-wise and open manner. PMID: 29457956 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Source: Pathogens and Global Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Pathog Glob Health Source Type: research