Chinese scientists use DNA edited cells to fight cancer

20 พฤศจิกายน 2559

Biomedicine race between China & US looms as gene-editing to cure cancer draws near in Chinese clinical trial.

SCIENCE & MEDICINE

Chinese scientists use DNA edited cells to fight cancer

In a landmark case for applying genetic research to medicine, a team of Chinese scientists injected cells with edited genes for the first time into a human patient.

The genes of the cell were edited with the new CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology:

THE MEDICAL TREATMENT

The patient had metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer (see here & here).

Immune system cells were first removed from the patient's bloodstream.

Then a gene was disabled that normally allows cancers to spread and proliferate.

The disabled gene was associated with the protein PD-1 which stops a cell's immune system response to cancer.

The gene was disabled using CRISPR–Cas9 which "combines a DNA-cutting enzyme with a molecular guide that can be programmed to tell the enzyme precisely where to cut."

The edited cells were then cultured and grown to increase their numbers and then injected back into the patient where it is hoped they will attack and destroy the cancer.

THE CLINICAL TRIAL

The clinical trial will include ten patients each receiving two to four injections.

The patients will be monitored for any adverse effects and whether the patients benefit from the treatment.

WILL THE NEW TREATMENT WORK?

Oncologists are excited about this new treatment because "antibodies that neutralise PD-1 have successfully put lung cancer in check, boding well for a CRISPR enabled attack on the protein."

There are, however, some doubts that this genetic treatment will be better than the already proven use of antibodies which "can be expanded to unlimited quantities in the clinic."

BIOMEDICAL RACE BETWEEN CHINA & US?

The move could spark a biomedical technology race between China and the United States, say some observers.

Chinese scientists performed the first experiments on Crispr-edited monkeys in early 2014 and the first Crispr-edited human embryos last May (see Wired article here).

So hold on to your seats for the potentially wild ride to come.

A similar CRISPR clinical trial is scheduled to start in the US in early 2017.

In March 2017 three clinical trials to fight bladder, prostate and renal cell cancers (in the kidney) are scheduled to begin at Beijing University in China if they get approval and funding.