Genetically Modified Plants Help Treat Hemophilia

Hemophilia is caused by a genetic defect that inhibits the body's ability to control blood clotting. The two forms of the disease — hemophilia A and B — are associated with the absence of proteins called factor VIII and factor IX, respectively. The disease affects millions of people and is sometimes untreatable due to patients' immune systems rejecting the standard treatment--infusion of a protein that helps the blood to clot. To help patients tolerate therapy, doctors try to exhaust patients' immune systems by administering the therapeutic protein intravenously at frequent intervals and for long periods until the body no longer responds by producing inhibitors. While that brute force approach works read more

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