Yes! I have a genetic disease that will take me out in my 70s and I’m really hoping CRISPR gets to it before I do!
A lot of people's genes will take them out in their 70s but cheers to crispy
CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
161–170 of 239 posts
Re: CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
#162[deleted]
Re: CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
#163Does anyone know a website where I can see/read of how many cancers (and their variants) we've effectively solved, have drugs to negate their effects, have experimental drugs for and uncurable cancers? I think that graph would be awe inspiring looking at the past decade of advancements. What's more crazy is that we're slowly going from millenia, to decades, to likely years in the near future from being presented a bi…
It's not as great as you might think, despite all the stories you see like this one. That's because most of the stories are in cells (this one) or mice. The big success story, about 20 years old now, is testicular cancer. You can have metastatic testicular cancer with tumors all over your body (like Lance Armstrong had) and they can cure it. They use platinum based chemotherapy and it's not really well understood why…
I wouldn't understate advances in Melanoma treatment. Immunotherapies have absolutely changed the game in that space. It's not a curable cancer (few are) but it's far more treatable.
Re: CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
#164Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you written about your experience anywhere? It would be interesting to see how you approached the research sector as a layperson. Are there any plans to move to in vivo? Best of luck with your research!
I haven't written about it publicly, but I can elaborate here. I don't mind answering further questions about it even if you believe they'd make me uncomfortable - they won't. I've come to terms with what's happening to my body and that I may not benefit from my efforts. Background: ~3 years ago I was diagnosed with a very rare MPLW515L-driven blood cancer known as a myeloproliferative neoplasm. My hematopoietic stem…
This is so impressive - kudos to you. Thanks for sharing and being open to questions.
How much overall has this costed you? Do you think that a middle-class person could afford to do what you did?
> So, I laddered up the academic food chain using a little cash (donations), emails, airline tickets, and conference admission. ~2 years after my diagnosis I found myself in a closed-door session called the MPN Roundtable in Chicago with 100 of the foremost experts in the world. No cameras, no transcripts, just some of the greatest minds in the field earnestly debating the path forward to a cure.
Why don't they allow recordings at the MPN Roundtable? It could be useful for others to learn from.
Re: CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
#165The idea of using CRISPR/Cas to detect tumor-specific mutations that aren't necessarily oncogenic and then kill the cell is not a new one [0, 1, 2]. However, previous studies used Cas9, which just damages the DNA at the target site; this uses Cas12a2, which is far more destructive because it shreds the chromatin in the cell once activated by detecting the target sequence. As with any cancer treatment, it's likely the…
Depending on how the LNPs are designed, would resistance also potentially cripple the cancer cells? Like, it stops surfacing some cholesterol receptor because the drug is being delivered by LNPs that target that receptor, and now the cell is starved for cholesterol? I've heard about drug resistance in bacteria leading to slower growth / reduced virulence. Maybe the same would occur with cancers. A drug that could eff…
I'm no expert, but p53 is known as "the guardian of the genome."
If p53 is reactivated, the cancer cell dies.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P53
Perhaps a different mutation that disables p53 could evade the pattern match.
This article is all about p53.
Edit: This section of the wiki best explains this critical cellular component...
p53 regulates cell cycle progression, apoptosis, and genomic stability through multiple mechanisms:
-Activates DNA repair proteins in response to DNA damage, suggesting a potential role in aging.
-Arrests the cell cycle at the G1/S checkpoint upon DNA damage, allowing time for repair before progression.
-Initiates apoptosis if the damage is beyond repair.
-Essential for the senescence response triggered by short telomeres.
Re: CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
#166Earlier quoted context omitted.
I guess then a graph of deaths from disagnosed cancer at various stages would be just as awe inspiring. I'd settle for that as well.
https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cance... Page 2 has the figure. Getting people to not smoke has been the most effective treatment in our lifetime. Public health is a really big deal, and RFK et al are a disaster for the nation.
Looking through that, they seem to leave out what would be the most interesting comparison - expectancy adjusted for stage at detection against time?
Edit Claude suggests the problem is bordering on intractable, but table 7 in this link is probably as good as it gets https://acsjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.3322/caac...
Re: CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
#167Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have you written about your experience anywhere? It would be interesting to see how you approached the research sector as a layperson. Are there any plans to move to in vivo? Best of luck with your research!
I haven't written about it publicly, but I can elaborate here. I don't mind answering further questions about it even if you believe they'd make me uncomfortable - they won't. I've come to terms with what's happening to my body and that I may not benefit from my efforts. Background: ~3 years ago I was diagnosed with a very rare MPLW515L-driven blood cancer known as a myeloproliferative neoplasm. My hematopoietic stem…
This is amazing. Thank you for sharing.
Re: CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
#168Does anyone know a website where I can see/read of how many cancers (and their variants) we've effectively solved, have drugs to negate their effects, have experimental drugs for and uncurable cancers? I think that graph would be awe inspiring looking at the past decade of advancements. What's more crazy is that we're slowly going from millenia, to decades, to likely years in the near future from being presented a bi…
you should probably look at oncogenes in general.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncogene
at the simplest level, the particular gene, and particular perturberance, sets the "type" of cancer.
there will most often be additional genetic abnormalities giving nuance to the character of the oncotype.
the tumour is originated from a cell type of specific differentiation, and developmental potency, further widening the pool of possible cancer type.
immunotype of cancer also sets the relationship between cancer and the body.
the cells of the body are setup for a functional death and replacement so when you try to rescue a particular cell [or cohort] you are fighting against how the grand scheme of tissue maintenance operates.
unless you have concern for a particular long lived cell, it is best to destroy the tumour cell, and let the next cells in line replace them.
it is still a multifacet strategy being developed, inhibit the genetic properties of the tumour, and target the immunotype for destruction.
Re: CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
#169Does anyone know a website where I can see/read of how many cancers (and their variants) we've effectively solved, have drugs to negate their effects, have experimental drugs for and uncurable cancers? I think that graph would be awe inspiring looking at the past decade of advancements. What's more crazy is that we're slowly going from millenia, to decades, to likely years in the near future from being presented a bi…
The foundational problem with cancer is that multicellular organisms rely on tight control of the cell division cycle and there are hundreds of ways that can go off kilter. The record of understanding and treatment is impressive, certainly, but the correct mental model is more ‘think of all the problems that can go wrong with a rocket launch - from contaminated fuel to software glitches’ than ‘here’s a list of cancers of different cell and organ types’.
Just as attacking such problems with rocket launches involves hundreds of different approaches, that’s the situation for cancer. I’d also point out that this is why it was really not trivial to identify microbial and viral causes of disease in the 19th century - especially since we now know that certain kinds of infectious disease can themselves result in cancer initiation. It’s definitely a hard set of problems.
I would also add, there was a concerted effort by industry to promote ‘inherent genetic malfunction’ as the cause of cancer in the late 1990s and early 2000s, but the reality is that exposure to industrial carcinogens tracks closely with a wide variety of cancers (skin, digestive tract, etc.). This was a very deceptive and dishonest approach to avoiding regulation.
Re: CRISPR tech selectively shreds cancer cells, including "undruggable" cancers
#170Does anyone know a website where I can see/read of how many cancers (and their variants) we've effectively solved, have drugs to negate their effects, have experimental drugs for and uncurable cancers? I think that graph would be awe inspiring looking at the past decade of advancements. What's more crazy is that we're slowly going from millenia, to decades, to likely years in the near future from being presented a bi…
Let the record reflect that I had this exact idea 2 years ago but never finished it, and remembered it this morning.