liver cells

For decades chlorpyrifos (CPS) has been one of the most widely used organophosphate insecticides for a variety of agricultural and public health applications.

The extensive use of CPS inevitably results in exposure to a small number of the human population. It is believed that the chemical is metabolically oxidized to its oxygen analog, chlorpyrifos oxon (CPO), which can cause acute toxicity in humans by the inhibition of acetylcholinesterase in the central nervous systems.

The metabolical oxidization of CPS to CPO primarily occurs in livers by multiple cytochrome P450 (CYP) enzyme isoforms.

A novel strategy for circumventing safety problems that have plagued gene therapy has been offered by a complex multicenter group of researchers.

The study reports that adenovirus type 5, a common vector for delivering gene therapy, transfects liver cells by a different mechanism than previously thought.

That mechanism offers a new target for modifying the viral vector to make it safe for clinical use.