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CRISPR gene-editing breakthrough opens door to treating broad array of diseases

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Re: CRISPR gene-editing breakthrough opens door to treating broad array of diseases

#51

Post by DoreenMichele »

changoplatanero wrote: post #8

Reminds me of this guy that cured himself of lactose intolerance. https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/health/a17804128/sc...

I recently watched the two videos on this (that I'm aware of) and it's the first time gene therapy didn't strike me as macabre Frankensteinian experiments on vulnerable people who will say "yes" to all kinds of crazy stuff out of desperation.

Cystic fibrosis significantly impacts gut function and many people with it do poorly with dairy products. I could see this and/or some variation of this being valuable therapy for the CF community while we wait for better answers.

Although best known as a deadly lung disorder, the impact on gut function is a major problem that just gets less press but is something people with CF and their loved ones fret about a whole lot. I think if you could do something to improve gut function fairly quickly and semi permanently, you would likely reduce a lot of their other issues as well because people with CF are typically underweight, sometimes severely underweight, and their chronic malnourishment is a major underlying source of their inability to fight off infection.

Re: CRISPR gene-editing breakthrough opens door to treating broad array of diseases

#52

Post by karmicthreat »

tialaramex wrote: post #38
MeinBlutIstBlau wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's annoying people get upset that people who do this potentially damage their bodies. First of all, it's that individuals body. They can take whatever risks they want. I don't see how trying to alter your own DNA is any worse for you than skydiving. Both have inherent risks, none of which affect others. Secondly, because there is no red tape or ethical scientific practices required, this gives us the opport…

> Both have inherent risks, none of which affect others. If you make germline edits, this does potentially impact others - you can have children who inherit the edit. They don't have any choice about that (depending on the edit they might randomly not receive a copy of the edited material, but that's luck) and its consequences in them may be undesirable even if the outcome for you, an adult, was fine and anyway your…

In the particular context of Though Emporium this wasn't going to happen. It used an adenovirus that couldn't reproduce so it was only going to alter a limited number of cells in his intestine.

The technical requirements to this kind of limit the number of people that are going to really mess themselves up. I would be more worried about people accidentally releasing edited bacteria or viruses.

Re: CRISPR gene-editing breakthrough opens door to treating broad array of diseases

#55

Post by ch4s3 »

karmicthreat wrote: post #52
tialaramex wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Both have inherent risks, none of which affect others. If you make germline edits, this does potentially impact others - you can have children who inherit the edit. They don't have any choice about that (depending on the edit they might randomly not receive a copy of the edited material, but that's luck) and its consequences in them may be undesirable even if the outcome for you, an adult, was fine and anyway your…

In the particular context of Though Emporium this wasn't going to happen. It used an adenovirus that couldn't reproduce so it was only going to alter a limited number of cells in his intestine. The technical requirements to this kind of limit the number of people that are going to really mess themselves up. I would be more worried about people accidentally releasing edited bacteria or viruses.

> releasing edited bacteria or viruses.

From what I understand it’s hard to order the sequences of DNA or RNA you’d need for this without someone noticing. It’s probably not impossible, but not something anyone is going to bungle into.

Re: CRISPR gene-editing breakthrough opens door to treating broad array of diseases

#56

Post by karmicthreat »

ch4s3 wrote: post #55
karmicthreat wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the particular context of Though Emporium this wasn't going to happen. It used an adenovirus that couldn't reproduce so it was only going to alter a limited number of cells in his intestine. The technical requirements to this kind of limit the number of people that are going to really mess themselves up. I would be more worried about people accidentally releasing edited bacteria or viruses.

> releasing edited bacteria or viruses. From what I understand it’s hard to order the sequences of DNA or RNA you’d need for this without someone noticing. It’s probably not impossible, but not something anyone is going to bungle into.

That's what is usually said. I don't think I've actually heard of this getting triggered. I'd like to think that global governments have this totally under control. Maybe the US does, but does China? In any case so far it's seemed like a whole "this rock keeps away Tigers" sort of thing.

Re: CRISPR gene-editing breakthrough opens door to treating broad array of diseases

#60

Post by DoctorNick »

ausbah wrote: post #43

>Doctors infused billions of microscopic structures known as nanoparticles carrying genetic instructions for the CRISPR gene-editor into four patients in London and two in New Zealand. The nanoparticles were absorbed by their livers, where they unleashed armies of CRISPR gene-editors. The CRISPR editor honed in on the target gene in the liver and sliced it, disabling production of the destructive protein. this is one…

The record breaking temperatures that I'm suffering in the PNW right now serves as a grim reminder that we won't have much of a future, even with all this cool tech.
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