mitochondrial DNA therapy for aging

[Steve Beuttel]

Treon Verdery,

I have scanned a few of your postings from '93:

http://www.bio.net/bionet/mm/ageing/1993-October/000464.html

on and wonder if you know of any progress that's been made in
implementing gene therapies for either mitochondrial disease, and/or
aging.

I have read and corresponded with a few people and so far,
the difficulty still seems to be in figuring out a robust process for
introducing changes into the mitochondria - some are chemical
and direct, some try to mimic normal processes and one tries to
send tailored mtDNA to the nucleus with some kind of tag that
causes it to migrate to the mitochondria within the cell mechanism.

I don't understand these things, but my sense is that any real hope
my nephew, and others with MELAS and other such diseases really only
have a chance with gene therapy, as opposed to the current medicinal
assistance (This motivates my intrusions on folks like you who have
posted on the matter).

I appreciate any guidance you may provide.

Thanks,
-Steve Beuttel-