Technologic IQ: chinese scientists edit human genes for the first time

Chinese scientist have become the first in the world to inject a person with cells that have been genetically edited using the revolutionary CRISPR–Cas9 technique.

The trial involved modifying a patient's own immune system cells to make them more effective at combating cancer cells and then injecting them back into the patient.

Chinese oncologists at Sichuan University insert CRISPR-modified cells into a patient suffering from an aggressive form of lung cancer, according to nature. Gene-editing could improve the ability of immune cells to attack cancer.

What is CRISPR-cas9 Technique?

CRISPR/Cas9 basically works like a pair of molecular scissors. Researchers just need to program it, and it can cut out certain genes - or add new ones - far more cheaply and quickly than any previous genetic tools.

The CRISPR-Cas9 "tool" is a DNA construct that can be injected into any organism—in this case, human immune system T cells—to modify the genome of that organism.

The introduction of CRISPR, which is simpler and more efficient than other techniques, will probably accelerate the race to get gene-edited cells into the clinic across the world, says Carl June, , who specializes in immunotherapy at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia and led one of the earlier studies.

HOW IT WORKS?

Step1-An RNA sequence guides the CRISPR construct to the correct part of the organism's DNA.

Step2-The Cas9 enzyme "cuts out" that segment of DNA.

Step3- A new DNA sequence can be inserted to replace the deleted segment of the genome.

The gene that was turned off codes for a protein called PD-1, which usually slows down a cell's immune response, allowing cancer to grow out of control.
These PD-1-free immune cells were then cultured in the lab and injected back into the patient. The aim is that they'll now proliferate in the patient's body and attack and destroy cancerous cells.

IS THIS PROCESS SAFE?

The journal reports that this first round of treatment in a safety trial went well enough to warrant a second injection of the Cas9-edited cells, and that nine more people will undergo the treatments in the future. From there, the patients will be monitored for at least six months, if not longer, to "determine whether the injections are causing serious adverse effects."

The team will also watch them beyond that time to see if they seem to be benefiting from the treatment.

"I think this is going to trigger 'Sputnik 2.0,' a Biomedical duel on progress between China and the United States. United States medical scientists also plan to use CRISPR as an experimental treatment for cancer patients in early 2017.

CRISPR is emerging as a precise and cost-effective way to battle some of the most deadly forms of cancer.