Doctors Are Trying to Use CRISPR to Fight Cancer. The 1st Trial Suggests It's Safe.

Pedro_P

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Preliminary data from an innovative clinical trial suggests CRISPR could be safe for use in cancer therapy.

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▼ In the first clinical trialof its kind, researchers used the gene-editing tool CRISPRto fine-tune the DNA of people's immune cells, in hopes of fighting cancer.
Now, preliminary data from the trial suggest that this technique is safe for use in cancer patients.
"This is proof that we can safely do gene editingof these cells," study co-author Dr. Edward Stadtmauer, a professor of oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, told the Associated  Press.
Still, "this treatment is not ready for prime time," Stadtmauer added in an interview with NPR. "But it is definitely very promising."
So far, only three patients have received the pioneering therapy — two with a blood cancer called multiple myeloma and one with sarcoma, a connective-tissue cancer, according to a statementfrom the University of Pennsylvania. Researchers were able to safely remove, edit and return the cells to patients' bodies. Safety was measured in terms of side effects, and the authors found that there were no serious side effects from the treatment.
A Phase I clinical trial, like this one, usually only includes a handful of patients, according to the American  Cancer Society. The small trial aims to determine how the body reacts to a new drug and whether patients experience any adverse reactions. Phase I trials don't address whether a drug actually works to treat a condition — that question crops up in later trials. As it stands, the CRISPR study suggests that the new cancer therapy is at least safe for three people, barring more data to come.   
"I'm just so excited about this," Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist at the University of California, Berkeley, whose team first discovered and developed the CRISPR technique, told NPR. (Doudna was not involved in the current study.)
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soothsayer

It is heartening to note advances made in this area. Time this killer was killed and buried. So many types and most of the strains end up killing the patient or causing life long problems. Thanks for giving hope to,so many with this post

abhidebb

May we Hope for the best outcomes in Cancer prevention..

chanakyakripa

CANCER HAPPENS, IN LAY MANS TERMS BECAUSE CERTAIN CELLS DOES NOT DIE, DOES NOT PERFORMS THE FUNCTIONS THAT IT SHOULD HAVE DONE. SO THE TREATMENT IS TO KILL THEM. SAME THING IS DONE BY OUR IMMUNE CELLS TO HARMFUL FOREIGN BODIES. HOPE THIS APPROACH FULFILS THE LONG AWAITED CURE CONCERN OF CANCER.

culsivaji

So far, so good — but [it's] still early