US SCIENTISTS USE CRISPR IN EFFORT TO FIGHT CANCER

WASHINGTON: US scientists have succeeded in genetically editing the immune systems of three cancer patients using CRISPR, without creating any side effects, a first for the tool which is revolutionising biomedical research.

The highly anticipated results from the first phase of a clinical trial were published in the journal Science on Thursday. They represent a stepping stone that doesn’t yet prove Crispr can be used to fight cancer. Indeed, one of the patients has since died and the disease has worsened in the other two - but the trial does show that the technique is non-toxic.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania removed T-cells from the patients’ blood and used CRISPR to delete genes from the cells that might interfere with the immune system’s ability to fight cancer.

They then used a virus to arm the T-cells to attack a protein typically found on cancer cells called NY-ESO-1, and infused the cells back into the patients.

The idea of this work therefore is to combine the two cuttingedge approaches to make T- cells even more powerful, Edward Stadtmauer, the study’s principal investigator, told AFP.