Role of Recombinant DNA Technology in Medicine

Recombinant DNA (rDNA) is a type of artificial DNA that is made by joining together two or more DNA segment usually originating from different organisms. More specially, a recombinant DNA molecule is a vector, (most commonly ESCHERICHIA COLI) into which the desired DNA regiment has been inserted to enable its cloning in an appropriate host. This is achieved by using specific enzyme (restriction enzyme) for cutting the DNA into suitable regiment and then for joining together the appropriate regiments (ligation). Ligation plays a major role as it is the key to proper results. In this manner gene may be produced which contain the coding region from one organism joined to regulatory sequence from another organism, such a gene is called chimeric gene. Multiple varieties of proteins are created from recombinant DNA technology and it is used for medications. Some can be extracts from humans, such as human growth hormone (rHGH), human insulin, follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and factor VIII. Other proteins, when used as medication, only have recombinant DNA as a source, such as with erythropoietin. It has brought many revolutionary changes in the field of medicine and introduced such methods of treating diseases and delivering the drug. Genetic factors are of great importance in adult-onset diseases such as atherosclerosis, cancer and neuro-degenerative diseases. Advance in recombinant DNA technology has made it almost easy to identify those persons who are at high-risk of acquiring some of these diseases. Thus recombinant DNA technology has lead to development in predictive medicine.