Altered Fates

In 1990 Ashanthi DeSilva, a four-year-old suburban Cleveland girl with a life-threatening, hereditary immune disorder, made medical history when doctors at the National Institutes of Health successfully treated her by inserting new genetic material into her cells and reprogramming them to produce an essential enzyme. The first half of this epic, magnificent history of gene therapy retraces years of tortuous research culminating in that breakthrough, which was the work of NIH molecular biologist William French Anderson and his colleagues. Also highlighted is National Cancer Institute immunotherapist Steven Rosenberg, who uses gene therapy to destroy cancerous cells. In the book's second half, Lyon and Gorner, who won a 1987 Pulitzer for their Chicago Tribune series on gene therapy, survey the field's potential to diagnose and treat cystic fibrosis, heart disease, cancer, schizophrenia, manic depression, alcoholism and many other illnesses and to retard the aging process. The authors are optimistic that gene therapy will revolutionize medicine. Author tour. (Mar.)