HEALTH : Gene Therapy Approval Sought

Scientists sought permission today for the first attempt at human gene therapy--research that will involve children stricken by a rare, inherited immune disorder that has forced some to live in plastic bubbles.

In a proposal filed with federal review committees, National Institutes of Health researchers said they want to correct the children’s illness, caused by the failure of a defective gene to make a vital enzyme, by inserting correct copies of the gene into their white blood cells.

If approved by the review panels and the Food and Drug Administration, the gene therapy effort headed by Drs. W. French Anderson and Michael Blaese could begin this summer.

The project would mark the first time researchers have transferred a gene into a human in hopes of treating a disease.