A New Treatment Is Coming After A Decade CRISPR Blinks

(Source: https://m.dongascience.com/news.php?idx=55116)

Caribou Biosciences, an American biotechnology company, is conducting research to find a way to effectively attack cancer cells by correcting the genes of immune cells with CRISPR gene scissors. CRISPR gene editing technology is classified as the third generation of gene editing technology that cuts and pastes DNA bases containing life information. Cancer treatment research developed by the company is evaluated as a breakthrough and new challenge for overcoming cancer. The company is led by Jennifer Doudna, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing the CRISPR gene scissors, which is considered the best biotechnology of the 21st century.

A Breaking Treatment Available

CRISPR gene scissors is a technology that uses ribonucleic acid (RNA) called CRISPR and an enzyme protein to precisely find and cut a specific site in the DNA containing the genetic information of animals and plants. Ten years ago, on June 28, 2012, an international research team led by Professor Daudna published the results of an experiment on bacteria for the first time in the international scientific journal 'Science', a disease that was unthinkable before CRISPR came out 10 years ago. Therapeutics are emerging and their potential is exploding.

In the UK, the approval of genetically modified crops using CRISPR has entered the ‘countdown’, heralding a food revolution. Evolutionary biologists who study paleontology are even studying Neanderthals with CRISPR. On the other hand, there are voices calling for insight into bioethical controversies, such as attempts to edit genes in human embryos.

The clinical trial results released by CRISPR Therapeutics on the 12th of last month were conducted jointly with Vertex, a biotechnology company based in Boston, USA. It published the results of a clinical trial using CRISPR treatment on 75 patients with sickle cell anemia and beta thalassemia, which are genetic diseases that cause anemia. These genetic diseases are diseases in which hemoglobin, the main protein of red blood cells that transports oxygen, is damaged, and anemia is complained of due to lack of oxygen in the blood.

The researchers focused on 'fetal hemoglobin,' which is activated only in the fetus and stops functioning within a few months after birth. After extracting immature blood cells from the bone marrow of patients supported for clinical trials, CRISPR technology was used to cut off the region that serves as a switch that stops the operation of the fetal hemoglobin gene. The gene-corrected blood cells were then re-injected into the patient to produce intact hemoglobin-rich red blood cells.

Clinical results showed that 42 of 44 patients treated for beta thalassemia did not require transfusion, and none of 31 sickle cell anemia patients complained of decreased blood oxygen level. The two companies plan to seek regulatory approval for the treatment later this year.

British-based bioventure Intellia Therapeutics(NTLA), in cooperation with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, an American biotechnology company, is conducting a clinical trial to treat 'amyloidosis', a rare genetic disease caused by the accumulation of damaged liver proteins in the blood, using CRISPR.

Research on genetically modified crops is also active. A research team led by Professor Casey Martin at the John Inns Center in the UK developed a tomato containing provitamin D3 using CRISPR gene scissors technology through international joint research and published it in the international scientific journal ‘Nature’ in May. British startup Inari Agriculture is using CRISPR to develop soybean and crop varieties that use less water and fertilizer.

In this regard, in May, the British government introduced a bill to Parliament to exclude genetically modified crops (GMOs) from genetically modified crops (GMOs) using CRISPR. Genetically modified crops are a different technology from GMOs, which insert genes of other species to obtain desired traits. If it passes, genetically modified tomatoes containing a lot of vitamin D are expected to appear on the table.