Scientists in the US have been able to genetically edit the immune system without any side effects. This is the first time that is happening using a tool like CRISPR, and experts say that this machine will revolutionize biomedical research.
The results can’t yet prove that CRISPR (edits DNA, and T cell therapy, in which sentries of the immune system are exploited to destroy tumors) will be able to cure cancer. After a few tests, one patient died and two others had a bad condition after using CRISPR, but the trial proves that its technique is non-toxic.
A team of researchers from the University of Pennsylvania removed T-cells from patient blood and used CRISPR to delete the genes that were not fighting for the entire human system. After this process, they used a controlled virus into the patient’s body. This virus was a trigger factor to attack a protein found in cancer cells called NY-ESO-1.
CRISPR Genome-Editing Tool Was Effective in Treating Cancer
We all know that tumors have been a major problem for the last decades and I think that this revolutionary machine can change this.
We have all lost someone fighting cancer and unfortunately, we can’t bring them back. Let’s hope that those guys will find a cure for cancer and save lives that for now are in real danger.
Even though, in the past, there were so many cancer tests, that were meant to find a cure for this powerful disease, patients who have undergone such investigation didn’t respond in any way.
The main task in this study is to combine the two approaches and see how we can make the T-cells more powerful. By the measurements that were made, despite a patient has died, the research team thinks that it was a success and the process will be improved.