CRISPR - Gene Editing Explained

A man living with Kennedy's Disease posted this on Facebook. The short YouTube video (link below) does a good job of explaining what CRISPR is, how it works, and its potential. Those of us living with KD are very interested in the potential tools like CRISPR offer for future generations.

Biologist Explains One Concept in 5 Levels of Difficulty - CRISPR

Video published May 24, 2017

CRISPR is a new area of biomedical science that enables gene editing and could be the key to eventually curing diseases like autism or cancer. WIRED has challenged biologist Neville Sanjana to explain this concept to 5 different people; a 7 year-old, a 14 year-old, a college student, a grad student and a CRISPR expert.

Gene Editing Followup

A followup article in the New York Times by Pam Belluck dismisses some of the fears people have regarding Gene Editing. Since Huntington’s Disease is mentioned, that is a good sign for those of us with families living with Kennedy’s Disease. To read the entire article, follow the title link.

Gene Editing for ‘Designer Babies’? Highly Unlikely, Scientists Say

 “Now that science is a big step closer to being able to fiddle with the genes of a human embryo, is it time to panic? Could embryo editing spiral out of control, allowing parents to custom-order a baby with Lin-Manuel Miranda’s imagination or Usain Bolt’s speed?

News that an international team of scientists in Oregon had successfully modified the DNA of human embryos has renewed apprehensions that babies will one day be “designed.” But there are good reasons to think that these fears are closer to science fiction than they are to science.

Here is what the researchers did: repair a single gene mutation on a single gene, a defect known to cause — by its lonesome — a serious, sometimes fatal, heart disease. …”

“ … So are most physical diseases and psychiatric disorders. The genetic message is not carried in a 140-character tweet — it resembles a shelf full of books with chapters, subsections and footnotes.

So embryonic editing is unlikely to prevent most medical problems.

But about 10,000 medical conditions are linked to specific mutations, including Huntington’s disease, cancers caused by BRCA genes, Tay-Sachs disease, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and some cases of early-onset Alzheimer’s. Repairing the responsible mutations in theory could eradicate these diseases from the so-called germline, the genetic material passed from one generation to the next. No future family members would inherit them.

But testing editing approaches on each mutation will require scientists to find the right genetic signpost, often an RNA molecule, to guide the gene-snipping tool.

In the study reported this week, it took 10 tries to find the right RNA, said Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a co-author and geneticist at the Salk Institute.

Dr. Greely noted that while scientists work to get human embryonic editing ready for clinical trials (currently illegal in the United States and many countries), alternate medical treatments for these diseases might be developed. They may be simpler and cheaper. …”

Photo:  https://rhapsodyinwords.com/2017/01/

The Last - I can only hope

A picture above my desk called, “The Last,” has a dual meaning for me. First off, I love the lithograph because it is so well done. To me it reflects the dying off of the American Indian culture. The second meaning is much more personal. I hope and pray I am the last male in my mother’s family with Kennedy’s Disease.

A NewYork Times article written by Pam Belluck reports on a recent study and potential milestone in genetic engineering. Nature,the International Weekly Journal of Science published the study this week. A portion of the article is shown below. Follow the links above to read the entire article and the study.

In Breakthrough, Scientists Edit a Dangerous Mutation From Genes in Human Embryos

“”Scientists for the first time have successfully edited genes in human embryos to repair a common and serious disease-causing mutation, producing apparently healthy embryos, according to a study published on Wednesday.

The research marks a major milestone and, while a long way from clinical use, it raises the prospect that gene editing may one day protect babies from a variety of hereditary conditions.

But the achievement is also an example of human genetic engineering, once feared and unthinkable, and is sure to renew ethical concerns that some might try to design babies with certain traits, like greater intelligence or athleticism.

Scientists have long feared the unforeseen medical consequences of making inherited changes to human DNA. The cultural implications may be just as disturbing: Some experts have warned that unregulated genetic engineering may lead to a new form of eugenics, in which people with means pay to have children with enhanced traits even as those with disabilities are devalued. …”

“… Scientists at Oregon Health and Science University, with colleagues in California, China and South Korea, reported that they repaired dozens of embryos, fixing a mutation that causes a common heart condition that can lead to sudden death later in life.

If embryos with the repaired mutation were allowed to develop into babies, they would not only be disease-free but also would not transmit the disease to descendants.

The researchers averted two important safety problems: They produced embryos in which all cells — not just some — were mutation-free, and they avoided creating unwanted extra mutations.

“It feels a bit like a ‘one small step for (hu)mans, one giant leap for (hu)mankind’ moment,” Jennifer Doudna, a biochemist who helped discover the gene-editing method used, called CRISPR-Cas9, said in an email. …”

"Desistance" is my current story I am in the final stages of editing. It is a Sci-Fi that takes place sixty years in the future. One of the storylines is the development of almost super-humans whose DNA has been edited to remove most of the known diseases. Perhaps it won’t be Sci-Fi after all.