What’s the Likelihood That CRISPR Will Cure Cancer?
CRISPR, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat, is a gene editing tool that can cut DNA in very precise locations. So far, CRISPR technology has shown a lot of promise in editing embryonic DNA to eliminate genetic diseases. However, the genetic edits need to be made to every single cell in order to eliminate a genetic disease, such as sickle cell anemia. The technology is not quite at that level...yet.
Dr. Alan B. Copperman, director of the division of reproductive endocrinology and vice-chairman of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, says, "in the near future, we most likely will see CRISPR and other gene editing technologies revolutionize cancer therapy. One potential application involves removing some of a patient's own immune cells (T Cells), re-programming them using CRISPR and then infusing these cells back into the patient to fight the cancer. This personalized immunotherapy approach should help in fighting off many different types of cancers."
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