Genetic modification for cancer cure and HIV
CRISPR is the genetic edition that helps us to eliminate hereditary diseases or make genetic improvements, this is a hopeful tool to be able to share diseases such as fungi, bacteria or viruses that trigger it.
In Temple University a group of researchers use CRISPR to eradicate HIV of infected patients
Fight in HIV
The retrovirus unlike others, they work by inserting parts of their genomes in guest cells, that is, and simplifying, they sneak into the cells and use them to reproduce and replicate, this makes it difficult to eradicate them. On the other hand, antiretrovirals can be effectively controlled, the virus is still there in the and cell phone and if the disease is stopped taking the disease reappears. For this reason this treatment is hopeful.
For several years of research, through different studies they have tried to take out the virus from the cell, which have been little successful. But according to an article published in Nature Scientific Reports, the Kamel Khalili team managed to implement a CRISPR -based method with which they have cleaned the genetic material of the cells – T infected, the lymphocytes responsible for ‘coordinate’ the immune response of cellsof the body, to paralyze and damage the genome of HIV thanks to the enzyme cas9. This procedure allows you to review the cell from the cell, eliminate retroviral material and fix the cell DNA.
The people who received the treatment, who were six of the participants stopped taking the retrovirals that helped them suppress HIV (the others were too weak). As modified cells expanded through their bodies, they began to observe the results. Of those six patients, four showed significant improvements, in one of them they could not even detect virus strokes. In summary, they obtained a 66% success cup.
The results, published in New England Journal of Medicine, demonstrate that genetic manipulation is safe and effective to treat HIV. They hope that in the future, after making several larger clinical trials, complement or replace the existing treatments. The technique could even be used to treat other diseases, leaving behind the expensive medications and their side effects.
This not only eradicates the virus permanently, it also functions as a cellular immune system, against possible future infections of the same virus. The study of this was carried out in a laboratory where infected real cells were used and the CRISPR technique was used, the optimistic experts for their therapeutic use being well known.
There are still years for this method to reach hospitals.
Research shows us the effectiveness of current editing systems to eradicate DNA HIV by introducing mutations in the viral material that prevent replication.
Genetic modification for cancer cure
CRISPR technology was developed in the United States in 2012 as a tool to modify the genome. This treatment consists of the CAS9 () protein, which detects elements outside the DNA and replaces them by others. That is to say that this method allows to modify the AND of the people.
Method function
Doctors take the patient’s blood and locate the DNA fragment that suppresses the ability of immune cells to fight against malignant elements. This DNA fragment is eliminated, after which doctors transfuse the patient’s modified blood again.
It is expected that the body will begin to fight against tumor cells on its own account.
The method was initially announced in 2016, caused some controversy in the scientific community due to possible side effects, unknown so far.
‘So far, 21 patients with esophagus cancer have participated in the experiment, with a 40% success rate. One of the patients has remained alive for almost a year after the experiment. And those were participants in those who had already tried all conventional treatment methods, without success, ”he said.
‘Until now, the method is surely effective. It is still difficult to know which oncological diseases serves the best, since we have tried it with few patients, ”he valued.
But even scientists around the world do not trust this new innovative method, so American scholars are enhancing the risk of modifyto that of their descendants.
Regarding this, Wu Shixiu can observe that American doctors tend to be more pessimistic about new technologies, while Chinese are open to new possibilities of being able to apply innovative methods in medicine.
The group led by the oncologist Lu You of the University of Sichuan, from China in the province of Chengdu, injected the patient on October 28, and awaits the first results for within six months, as explained by the scientific journal Nature. The hope is that modified cells manage to attack cancer cells until this body disease is eliminated.
The process was not easy. White blood cells of the patient were extracted and modified with the help of the CRISPR system, a revolutionary tool that allowed scientists to alter and replace parts of the person’s genetic code. The protein that was deactivated was the PD-1, the person responsible for preventing white blood cells to attack other cells in the organism, so cancer manages to expand through the body without limitation.
However, there are other concerns that reveal doctors. The side effects are unknown, since this is the first clinical trial of this type, and it is unknown if the edited cells will attack only carcinogens or if they also endanger the healthy ones. According to Lu, during these first weeks the patient had a good response, and there is talk of a second injection.
Bibliography
- Javier Jiménez (July 22, 2019). They manage to eliminate HIV from cells thanks to genetic engineering. Xataka Magazine. Retrieved from: https: // www.Xataka.com/medicine-and-salud/get-eliminar-el-vih-de -las-leceulas-thanks-a-the-genetic-genetic
- Javier Jimenez (September 10, 2016). HIV challenges our attempts to end it by genetic edition. Xataka Magazine. Retrieved from: https: // www.Xataka.com/medicine-and-salud/el-vih-disafia-our-intenties-for-corner-with-the-mediar-genetic
- Genetic manipulation against HIV. Very interesting magazine. Retrieved from: https: // www.very interesting.com.MX/Science-Y-Tecnology/New-Treatment-Genetic-VIH-IDA/
- Science (February 6, 2016). Genetic writing ’To cure cancer: Did the time arrive or does it need prudence? Sputnik Mundo Magazine. Retrieved from: https: // world.Sputniknews.com/science/201802061076039990-GENOMA-MODIFICATION-DEFFERMENDES-TRATURATION/
- Science (November 21, 2016). Genetic manipulation could cure cancer. Infobae magazine. Retrieved from: https: // www.Infobae.com/health/science/2016/11/21/la-manipulation-genetic-podria-calegar-a-cure-el-cancer/
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