CRISPR Gene Editing Therapies Might Be The Cause More Trouble Then They Seem!
Recent studies have pointed out the using CRISPR gene editing technique to cure diseases might be able to get us the desired results but it can also lead to an increase in chances of developing cancer! So what does the future hold for CRISPR-based therapy?
CRISPR gene editing has been revolutionising the field of biotechnology since a long time. first discovered in archaea by Francisco Mojica, the use became popular when in January 2013, the Zhang lab published the first ever method to engineer CRISPR to edit the genome in mouse cells. Since then severals companies have been made to use CRISPR in wide range of techniques and simply it can be said that in the present century, CRISPR holds to potential to solve so many of the challenges faced by scientists of the past.
CRISPR techniques involve the method in which CRISPR sequences are transcribed into short RNA sequences which guide it to the desired sequence of DNA. At the target DNA, Cas9 one of the enzymes CRISPR produces binds to the DNA and cuts it, turning the gene off. Cas9 can also be used to activate gene expression thus allowing scientists to study certain genes and make them able to modify the mutations in an effort to treat certain types of genetic diseases. At present CRISPR genome editing technequies are enabling us to create new varieties of plants and animals and develop treatments for a wide range of diseases.
Despite being the core of so many techniques and the basis of so many treatments of genetic mutation, CRISPR just might not be that safe to be rushed into gene editing inside the human body. Recent studies have found that CRISPR-Cas9 can become the cause significantly greater genetic mutations, the study concludes that it might be able to threaten the health of patients who went under the therapy.
Team at the Wellcome Sanger Center observed how CRISPR can lead to massive genetic typos which includes big parts of DNA getting deleted, reversed, or moved entirely. The results also include that the deletion can silence genes that should be active and active those that are suppose to remain silent including cancer causing genes.
At the Sanger Center, while studying for the outcome of CRISPR therapies scientists saw some astonishing results, while CRISPR was able to correctly change the targetted DNA, it on the hand also set off a chain reaction that affected the genes far from the target, thus increasing the chances of development of cancer in the patient recieving the therapy. Other then that the exclusive on target damage is already under debate.
The Paper which was published in Nature Biotechnology almost took a year to be published, but Allan Bradley and his team are pretty confident with there doscovery.
The discovery caused the rise of many questions by the leading CRISPR companies that whether the CRISPR-caused DNA damage reported in the new study applied to the kind of cells they’re planning to edit? The Paper basically caused a lot of controversy and also led to great loss of many leading companies. It is reported that the within 20 minutes of publication of study, three of the publicly traded CRISPR companies lost more than $300 million in value!
“We’re not Pollyannaish about this,” said Tom Barnes, chief innovation officer at Intellia [gene therapeutic company] while talking about the report. According to him, the company analyzes edited genes for damages both near the target and tens of thousands of DNA letters away as well. “we have not seen any transformation of these cells, even with all the edits we’ve introduced.”
One of the buring question the Publication arised was that if the CRISPR were initiating cancer, then why none of the mice under the study before the report ever developed tumors and why the scientists before never saw these consequence? “You find what you look for,” said Bradley. “No one is looking at the impact on downstream genes.”
The coming of the consequences of CRISPR in the spotlight did give birth to the argument among therapeutic companies leading them to question that if their therapy cures a child from a deadly disease, but increases his risk of cancer in the future, then maybe that is an acceptable tade off for him. However whatever the future holds for CRISPR editing techniques, the Report can surely be an eye opener for companies to be more cautious if they are planning to cure the genetic mutations within the human body in the near future.
