{"doi":"10.1016/j.ymthe.2020.03.008","title":"Ethics of Gene Therapy in the Military: Promise and Potential Problems","abstract":"Recent research on mice has shown that gene therapy can neutralize the effect of certain types of chemical weapons.1Betapudi V. Goswami R. Silayeva L. Doctor D.M. Chilukuri N. Gene therapy delivering a paraoxonase 1 variant offers long-term prophylactic protection against nerve agents in mice.Sci. Transl. Med. 2020; 12: 12Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar,2Kaiser J. Genetic modification could protect soldiers from chemical weapons. Science January 23, 2020.2020https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/genetic-modification-could-protect-soldiers-chemical-weaponsGoogle Scholar This approach may one day protect people, but it also raises worries. Some of these questions stem from it being gene therapy, but most stem from the fact that its key use would be on the battlefield. The most challenging questions involve assessing a therapy that is designed to protect soldiers but could also hurt them. It’s important to begin the discussion by reviewing how dangerous chemical weapons are and why they have been banned by international treaty since the 1960s.3Delfino R.T. Ribeiro T.S. Figueroa-Villar J.D. Organophosphorus compounds as chemical warfare agents: a review.Journal of the Brazilian Chemistry Society. 2009; 20: 407-428Crossref Scopus (198) Google Scholar,4Moshiri M. Darchini-Maragheh E. Balali-Mood M. Advances in toxicology and medical treatment of chemical warfare nerve agents.Daru. 2012; 20: 81Crossref PubMed Scopus (87) Google Scholar The most commonly used nerve agents, such as sarin, tabun, and VX, are organophosphates that inhibit acetylcholinesterase and lead to nerve dysfunction, resulting in the inability to breathe, heart problems, seizures, and death. Chemoprotective clothing and gas masks provide some defense, but they are not perfect. Once a person is exposed, medical treatments have limited efficacy and may not be able to forestall death or brain damage.3Delfino R.T. Ribeiro T.S. Figueroa-Villar J.D. Organophosphorus compounds as chemical warfare agents: a review.Journal of the Brazilian Chemistry Society. 2009; 20: 407-428Crossref Scopus (198) Google Scholar,4Moshiri M. Darchini-Maragheh E. Balali-Mood M. Advances in toxicology and medical treatment of chemical warfare nerve agents.Daru. 2012; 20: 81Crossref PubMed Scopus (87) Google Scholar If an attack is expected, then some medications can be given to reduce or block the effect of nerve agents, though these treatments have limitations too. One approach being tested in animals is to inject an enzyme that quickly breaks down organophosphates.1Betapudi V. Goswami R. Silayeva L. Doctor D.M. Chilukuri N. Gene therapy delivering a paraoxonase 1 variant offers long-term prophylactic protection against nerve agents in mice.Sci. Transl. Med. 2020; 12: 12Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar,2Kaiser J. Genetic modification could protect soldiers from chemical weapons. Science January 23, 2020.2020https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/genetic-modification-could-protect-soldiers-chemical-weaponsGoogle Scholar But these enzymes do not last in the bloodstream very long, so they may need to be given right before a possible attack, perhaps multiple times. The gene therapy approach may solve this problem: scientists injected a gene into mice that was taken up by their liver cells and made the protective enzyme. The study found that the enzyme remained active in the blood for the entire 5-month study and allowed the mice to survive multiple injections of the nerve agents.1Betapudi V. Goswami R. Silayeva L. Doctor D.M. Chilukuri N. Gene therapy delivering a paraoxonase 1 variant offers long-term prophylactic protection against nerve agents in mice.Sci. Transl. Med. 2020; 12: 12Crossref Scopus (4) Google Scholar,2Kaiser J. Genetic modification could protect soldiers from chemical weapons. Science January 23, 2020.2020https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/01/genetic-modification-could-protect-soldiers-chemical-weaponsGoogle Scholar The experiment is just “proof of concept,” of course, ","journal":"Molecular Therapy","year":2020,"id":109313,"datarank":0.0,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"self_citation_contribution":0.0,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.0,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":1,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":0.965,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":true,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":"2020-01-01","fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":522080,"name":"Peter H. Schwartz","orcid":"0000-0003-0863-0931","position":0,"is_corresponding":true}],"reference_count":10,"raw_metadata":null,"created_at":"2026-07-18T23:12:50.712357Z","pmid":"32208167","pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}