wakingscience | Rejecting the inherent ability of the human immune system to
naturally fight disease on its own, researchers out of China have taken
nature to task by introducing a new set of genetic modification
techniques that they claim will “enhance” the ability of the human body
to attack and destroy cancer cells.
According to reports, the procedure involves injecting extracted
immune cells with so-called “CRISPR” technology, which essentially
reprograms the ways in which they handle foreign invaders. CRISPR
combines a DNA-cutting enzyme with a specific molecular guide that, in
essence, changes the way genes express themselves.
As reported in Nature, a team of scientists led by Lu You, an
oncologist from Sichuan University in China, have already used CRISPR to
“treat” a patient suffering from an aggressive form of lung cancer,
which is part of a larger clinical trial currently taking place at West
China Hospital.
Previous trials have taken place with similar technologies, but those
pushing CRISPR claim that it’s simpler and more efficient than its
predecessors. If eventually approved for commercial use, CRISPR would
become the world’s first form of genetic modification for humans,
opening a Pandora’s box of biotechnology that threatens to further syncretize man and machine.
You’s trial received ethical approval from the hospital board back in
July, and so far the results have met his expectations. Immune cells
extracted from the test patient’s blood were injected with CRISPR, which
in effect disabled the gene codes for certain proteins including PD-1,
which under normal circumstances halt’s the body’s immune response,
allowing cancer cells to proliferate.
After the reprogramming process was complete, You and his team
cultured these cells, replicated them into much larger quantities, and re-injected them
back into the patient. Now they wait to see whether or not the
genetically-modified (GM) genome successfully overcomes the patient’s
metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer.
