China and the U.S. could soon be in a biomedical war with one another after the Chinese have just become the world’s first team to inject cells that had been gene-edited into a human using the CRISPR-Cas9 technique. The team to carry out the procedure was led by oncologist Lu You at Sichuan University in Chengdu and took place at the West China Hospital in the same city.
Although CRISPR has been around since 20112, this is the first time it has been used to carry out gene editing in a human and could trigger much more similar projects between both the USA and China. A review board approved the recent trial led by You as ethical and so was therefore allowed to be carried out. Even through the procedure was delayed by a couple of months, as the cells took longer than expected to culture and amplify, it was still a success.
The process itself involved researchers removing immune cells from the patient than using CRISPR-Cas9 to disable a gene in them that normally allows cancer to develop and grow. By culturing enough of these edited cells, You’s team is hopeful that they will attack and defeat cancer altogether. There are ten people in total due to reap the benefits of this gene editing procedure, but details are scarce due to patient confidentiality.
Various other oncologists are also excited about backing the CRISPR’s appearance into the cancer treating scene. Naiyer Rizvi of Columbia University Medical Center in New York City said, “ The technology to be able to do this is incredible,” while Antonio Russo of Palermo University in Italy says, “It’s an exciting strategy. The rationale is strong.”
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