WASHINGTON, Feb. 15 (Xinhua) -- A special issue of peer-reviewed journal Human Gene Therapy was published on Friday, documenting China's progress, opportunities and challenges in its biomedical research.

"This special issue, released coincident with the New Year in China, illustrates the tremendous scientific progress that has been made at certain leading institutions in China working in cell and gene therapy," says its editor-in-chief Terence R. Flotte, professor of University of Massachusetts Medical School.

The issue has six research articles and 12 special commentaries and review articles covering the world's first gene therapy product for cancer, the rare diseases registry system, and genomic editing and stem-cell therapy advances.

Gendicine, developed by a Shenzhen bio-tech company was approved in 2003 by China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA) as a first-in-class gene therapy product to treat head and neck cancer. It is the first-ever approved gene therapy drug in the world.

In a review article, drug evaluation scientists from CFDA discuss the principles on which clinical review of cellular therapy, including CAR-T products in China are based.

The special issue shows that China is helping to advance gene and cell therapy and genome editing research by creating novel viral and nonviral vectors for gene delivery and innovative applications of CRISPR technology in a broad range of disease areas.

"We hope that these particular focused commentaries can provide a roadmap for gene therapy scientists from other parts of the world to identify important achievements and opportunities for future collaboration," Flotte said.

The journal is owned by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. publishers, a New York-based media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research.