HEALTH : Cystic Fibrosis Cell Corrected

Scientists have corrected a crucial defect in cells taken from cystic fibrosis patients, a step called a milestone toward eventually treating the disease through gene therapy or new kinds of medication.

The cells carried the abnormal gene that causes cystic fibrosis, and researchers fixed the defect by giving them a normal copy of the gene.

While the notion of gene therapy for cystic fibrosis was science fiction only a few years ago, the new work has “pressed the fiction closer to reality,” said Paul Quinton, a cystic fibrosis researcher at the University of California, Riverside, who was familiar with the work.

Cystic fibrosis affects about 30,000 children and young adults in the United States. Their lungs produce a thick, sticky mucus that sets the stage for fatal lung infections.