Informative Speech Outline

Gene Therapy

Harley Abshire

Purpose: To inform
General Purpose: To inform the audience of what gene therapy is, what gene therapy does,
terms used in gene therapy, and to inform audience of a clinical trial that uses gene therapy.

Introduction:

Attention Grabber: “I’m sure we have all known someone or have had someone in our
family who has had cancer or a genetic disease.”
Thesis: Today I am going to talk about gene therapy, which can help cure and eradicate
disease and cancer.

A. I am going to be talking about what gene therapy is, how it is done, and a clinical trial
that uses it.
B. Main Points:
 Tell audience what a gene is, give examples so they have a better
understanding of what your topic is about, and show picture of what a
gene looks like.
 Discuss what gene therapy is and the terms used with it. Also show image
that will give a visual of how gene therapy works to help give a better
understanding.
 Tell the audience the three ways gene therapy is performed.
 Give the pros and cons of gene therapy.
 Talk about the clinical trial I researched to provide an example of gene
therapy for the audience.
C. Transition to the body of the speech: So what are genes? What is gene therapy?

Body:

A. According to the Genetics Home Reference, a gene is the “basic physical and
functional unit of heredity.” Genes are made up of DNA and are segments of
the DNA. Genes determine the traits or characteristics you have, which come
from your parents.
1. Example: your hair color and your eye color, etc
B. There are also alleles. Alleles are different variants of a certain gene. They
determine the outcome of the trait that you inherit from your mother or father.
(Show picture of gene to give a visual of what it looks like.)

Transition: What is gene therapy?

 C. Gene therapy is an experimental technique that uses the transplantation of
genes into cells to alter one’s individual genes to prevent or treat a disease. It
is still in the research stage and is only being used in clinical trials, but may
eventually be used in place of certain medicines and surgeries.
D. Gene therapy uses vectors. What is a vector? According to News Medical Life
Sciences, a vector is a modified virus that is corrected in a laboratory. The
vector then carries these corrected DNA to the cells and merges into the
existing genome. The vector then modifies the mutated gene. (Show picture of
what gene therapy does to give audience a better visual of how it is done.)
E. How is gene therapy accomplished? There are three different ways gene
therapy is performed:
 A mutated gene can be replaced with a healthy copy of a new gene.
 Provoking a gene that is not properly functioning in the right way.
Also called “knocking out.”
 Inserting a new gene to help fight a disease.
F. Pros of gene therapy:
 Can provide a cure for diseases.
 Can eradicate diseases.
 Can replace mutated DNA or cells.
 There is a wide variety of treatments for different diseases.
G. Cons of gene therapy:
 Not all clinical trials are successful.
 It can cause risk or affect healthy cells and can cause cancers or
tumors.
 Raises ethical issues.
H. Clinical Trial that I researched:
1. Gene Therapy restores hearing in genetically modified deaf mice.
Three doctors at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Gene Therapy center
created a vector called Anc80 and used it to infect the ears of mice. This
caused what is called Usher Syndrome, which leads to partial deafness or
total hearing loss. The three doctors then took mice after they were born
used a corrected gene called the Ush1c (gene that causes usher syndrome)
into the inner part of the ear. The gene enabled the mice to hear and the
doctors found that nineteen out of twenty-five mice could hear below
eighty decibels, and the rest could hear sounds of 25-30 decibels. Now the
mice can all hear the slightest whisper.

Conclusion:

A. In conclusion, gene therapy can be a great opportunity and could help many
people. It can also eradicate many diseases.

B. Restate your thesis: Now you know what gene therapy is, how it is used, and
what it does.
 Works Cited
“Gene Therapy and Senescence.” Immortality Foundation | Gene Therapy,
www.immortality.foundation/gene-therapy. *Used for picture of DNA on slide 1

Greengarageblogadmin. “4 Chief Pros and Cons of Gene Therapy.” Green Garage, 19 Aug.
2015, greengarageblog.org/4-chief-pros-and-cons-of-gene-therapy.

Mandal, Ananya. “Gene Therapy Vectors.” News-Medical.net, 23 Aug. 2018, www.news-

medical.net/health/Gene-Therapy-Vectors.aspx.

“Mice Control Toronto: Rats versus Mice: Can You Tell the Difference?” Power Management
Company, 2 June 2017, powerpestcontrol.ca/rats-versus-mice-can-tell-difference/. * Used for
mouse picture on slide 10

Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, www.nature.com/scitable/definition/allele-48.

Nichols, Hannah. “Groundbreaking Gene Therapy Restores Hearing, Balance.” Medical News
Today, MediLexicon International, 7 Feb. 2017,
www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/315695.php.

“What Is a Gene? - Genetics Home Reference - NIH.” U.S. National Library of Medicine,
National Institutes of Health, ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/basics/gene. *Used for information and
picture of gene on slide 3

Williams, Anna. “Discovering a Protein's Role in Gene Expression.” Medical Xpress - Medical
Research Advances and Health News, Medical Xpress, 10 Nov. 2017,
medicalxpress.com/news/2017-11-protein-role-gene.html. *Used for gene picture on slide 1