Potential applications of gene therapy in sports medicine

Gene therapy has the potential to improve greatly the management of sports medicine injuries. By the expeditious introduction of the appropriate genes to sites of injury, it should prove possible to initiate healing responses in those tissues that normally fail to heal, to accelerate healing in tissues which do naturally heal, and to improve the quality of the repair tissue. In addition, genes with anti-inflammatory properties offer novel possibilities for the control of chronic, sports related inflammation. None of these applications of gene therapy in sports medicine is yet in the clinic. It would seem, however, only a matter of time before the first clinical trials emerge. Their acceptance will be facilitated by the two human protocols that are presently underway for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The present status of sports medicine gene therapy is summarized in Table 3.