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Crispr Wins Key Approval to Fight Cancer in Human Trials (bloomberg.com)
Tom Randall, reporting for Bloomberg Technology:An experimental cancer treatment that alters the DNA of patients has won a key approval to proceed with its first human tests using the controversial gene-altering tool known as Crispr. Scientists from the University of Pennsylvania want to edit the immune systems of 18 patients to target cancer cells more effectively. The experiment, backed by internet billionaire Sean Parker, won approval from the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC), a federal ethics panel set up at the National Institutes of Health 40 years ago to review controversial experiments that change the human genome. The trial still needs final approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The experiment targets difficult-to-treat cases of multiple myeloma, sarcoma, and melanoma. The scientists will remove blood samples from patients and alter their T-cells -- central to human immune response -- to more effectively target and pursue cancer. The T cells will then be infused back into patients and studied for the safety and effectiveness of the technique.STAT News has an article in which it discusses the probable consequences of altering the DNA of a cancer patient.
They already have a procedure similar to this where they harvest and grow unmodified T-Cells. They extract them from vicinity of the tumor and then replicate them.
It's a little bit like cloning Osmosis Jones.
It looks like either approach is highly custom and not any sort of mass market thing.
A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
If the mechanism involves using a virus, couldn't there be massive unintended consequences if the virus transfers to another host?
Viruses already exist, any many of them do things much more nasty than fixing T-cells. CRISPR is programmed to target a specific sequence of DNA, usually around 40 base pairs. Since each pair is two bits, the chance of this sequence just randomly occurring is around 2^80.
Even if a virus isn't very communicable, and can't survive outside of a host, what if the patient transmits it sexually after treatment?
If someone has sex with their identical twin, that twin's cancer may also be cured. Otherwise, nothing will likely happen.
Far more dangerous DNA modifications are happening naturally on a nearby toilet seat.
Stupid AC. There is no god. And no Santa or Easter Bunny either. You were lied to.
I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.