Abstract
We set the stage for this new venture in an editorial I wrote in the February 2011 issue of HGT, where we made the case for publishing exciting advances in technologies of cell and gene therapy and encouraged the community to submit these manuscripts to HGT. Over the last 6 months we have published 17 “methods” papers and reviews spanning a wide range of technologies, including plasmid delivery (4), AAV transduction (3) and manufacturing (2), lentiviral manufacturing (2), processes for manufacturing viral vectors under current Good Manufacturing Practices (3), and cell transplantation and assorted expression methods (3). This kind of success after only a single solicitation suggested it was time to spin out a sibling journal to HGT committed to the publication of advances in relevant technologies.
In developing HGT Methods we considered a number of issues. Gene and cell therapy is unlike many medical disciplines, which are based on medical specialties such as cancer or cardiovascular disease or around the traditional scientific disciplines, which are focused on fundamental biological processes such as immunology or cell biology. The threads that tie our community together are the technological processes of gene and cell transfer. Our “science” transcends most medical disciplines and is influenced by virtually all fundamental biological principles. Our flagship journal HGT will continue to be a venue for publishing cutting-edge papers related to preclinical and clinical applications as well as mechanistically-based studies of gene and cell transfer biology.
HGT Methods will provide an opportunity to nurture and promote the scientific core of our field—the technology of gene and cell therapy. We expect this to be a durable and growing concept. We have only “scratched the surface” concerning the technological development of our field. Second-generation gene transfer technologies are just entering the clinic; however, no product has been commercialized in a developed country. Standards for producing and characterizing these products for distribution to patients have yet to be determined and will likely evolve over time. We are in desperate need of better methods to evaluate the outcome of gene transfer in terms of imaging gene transfer and in the measurement of meaningful host immune responses. HGT Methods will provide a venue to better develop these areas while more effectively reaching out to colleagues in the biopharmaceutical industry who will take the lead in commercialization efforts.
As I mentioned in my February 2011 editorial, meaningful technological advances are critical to our field and should not be underestimated. I reviewed the most highly cited papers in gene transfer/therapy since 1945 and found that the top four described methods for transferring genes: polyethylene-mediated transfection, lentiviral vectors for in vitro and in vivo gene transfer, a method for making adenoviral vectors, and plasmid-based gene transfer into muscle. Clearly the field of gene and cell therapy is more mature than when these seminal papers were published. Most advances are likely to be incremental rather than transformative, but nevertheless important. For example, one of my most highly cited papers turns out to be a simplified way of purifying AAV2 from a lysate. However, this field is still in its infancy and new paradigms of cell and gene transfer are likely around the corner! I encourage you to think about the utility of technological advances that have come out of your laboratory and consider writing them up for HGT Methods.
HGT Methods is also going to work with HGT to launch several new initiatives related to facilitating the commercial development of gene and cell therapy. Within the Mary Ann Liebert publishing portfolio is the highly regarded trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN). With a readership of over 65,000, GEN focuses on timely and newsworthy developments in the biopharmaceutical industry related to the development of biotherapeutics. We are developing collaborative efforts with GEN to chronicle key developments in gene and cell therapy related to the commercial development of the field. Included in these programs will be a series of didactic webinars related to fundamental principles of gene and cell therapy.
To celebrate the inauguration of HGT Methods, we decided to feature on its cover a digitalized rendition of the first gene transfer experiment, which was described by Oswald Avery, Colin MacLeod, and Maclyn McCarty in 1944, before we understood the very structure of DNA (Avery et al., 1944). They were able to stably convert the morphology of the bacterium Pneumococcus from a “rough” to a “smooth” phenotype by incubating cells with DNA. The authors conclude by saying “nucleic acids must be regarded as possessing biological specificity the chemical basis of which is as yet undetermined.”
HGT Methods, which is officially Part B of Human Gene Therapy, will be published in print and online with instant online publication within 72 hours of acceptance, and fast-track publication as soon as final author approval is given. Print versions of HGT Methods will be published every other month in 2012 and monthly thereafter. We anticipate that HGT Methods will appear on Medline and PubMed immediately and will be fully NIH, HHMI, and Wellcome Trust compliant from the start, and will develop its own impact factor.
The existing leadership team of HGT, together with the newly appointed Methods Editor, Prof. Dr. Thierry VandenDriessche, will be responsible for the development and management of this new journal. However, a new editorial board will be convened for HGT Methods with substantial representation from the biopharmaceutical industry. Manuscripts for both the flagship journal and HGT Methods will be submitted to Manuscript Central as has been done for HGT. The corresponding author will be asked to indicate their preference of journal for publication (i.e., HGT, HGT Methods, or either). Review of the manuscript will commence immediately unless the editorial leadership prefers to direct the manuscript to the alternate HGT journal (i.e., author selects HGT and editorial leadership prefers HGT Methods or author selects HGT Methods and editorial leadership prefers HGT); the corresponding author will be consulted immediately if this occurs. More details regarding manuscript submission can be found at
We anticipate your active participation in HGT Methods and strongly encourage the submission of methods manuscripts for consideration in our inaugural journal. We look forward to working with you as we launch these exciting new initiatives.