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China's CRISPR Twins Might Have Had Their Brains Inadvertently Enhanced (technologyreview.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from MIT Technology Review: The brains of two genetically-edited girls born in China last year may have been changed in ways that enhance cognition and memory, scientists say. The twins, called Lulu and Nana, were modified using CRISPR, a new gene-editing tool, by a Chinese scientific team to make the girls immune to infection by HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Now, new research shows the same genetic alteration introduced into the girls' DNA, to a gene called CCR5, not only makes mice smarter, but also improves human brain recovery after stroke, and could be linked to greater success in school.
"The answer is likely yes, it did affect their brains," says Alcino J. Silva, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Silva's lab lab has been uncovering a major new role for the CCR5 gene in memory formation and the brain's ability to form new connections. "The simplest interpretation is that those mutations will probably have an impact on cognitive function in the twins," says Silva. He says the exact effect on the girls cognition is impossible to predict and "that is why it should not be done." The Chinese designer babies were created to be resistant to HIV. A team in Shenzhen, China, led by Southern University of Science and Technology He Jiankui used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to delete a single gene, called CCR5, from human embryos, some of which were later used to create pregnancies. The virus that causes AIDS requires the CCR5 gene to enter human blood cells. The scientist, He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, has been fired from the university as He is under investigation in China. There is no evidence that He actually set out to modify the twins' intelligence.
"The answer is likely yes, it did affect their brains," says Alcino J. Silva, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles. Silva's lab lab has been uncovering a major new role for the CCR5 gene in memory formation and the brain's ability to form new connections. "The simplest interpretation is that those mutations will probably have an impact on cognitive function in the twins," says Silva. He says the exact effect on the girls cognition is impossible to predict and "that is why it should not be done." The Chinese designer babies were created to be resistant to HIV. A team in Shenzhen, China, led by Southern University of Science and Technology He Jiankui used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to delete a single gene, called CCR5, from human embryos, some of which were later used to create pregnancies. The virus that causes AIDS requires the CCR5 gene to enter human blood cells. The scientist, He Jiankui of the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzhen, China, has been fired from the university as He is under investigation in China. There is no evidence that He actually set out to modify the twins' intelligence.
Did anyone really believe the AIDS story? This is China here. The gene just-so-happens to be cognitive boosting was not a happy accident.
I don't know, I'd think immunity from HIV and similar infections is enough to experiment with this. Maybe they fear biological warfare from those already immune in the West. This immunity was already seen in Germany, likely a happy accident from all the plagues that swept through Europe from its long history of wars and international trade. 10% of Europeans carry this trait but outside of Europe it's rare as hen's teeth. Or maybe not biological warfare but the costs to their nation if they must fight an outbreak where no one has a natural resistance.
Then again maybe they are playing a long game here. With gene editing and natural propagation then maybe they can make a large part of overpopulated China immune. Then they can thin their population of too many mouths to feed, wage biological warfare on the rest of the world, and come out on top for generations after.
This is all assuming that there is some grand conspiracy here and not just a handful of people that want to get their names in the history books.
People must also know that the chances of getting HIV by a heterosexual that does not use injections of illegal drugs is as close to zero as statistical analysis will allow. Now that blood donations are screened for HIV there's no longer the risks that there used to be from that. Keep homosexuals and drug abusers from donating blood and we will all be quite safe from this disease.
I am armed because I am free. I am free because I am armed.