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CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

medicalxpress.com

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Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#91

Post by samus »

irjustin wrote: post #58
Metacelsus wrote: post #55

If they're going to all that effort to make allele-specific guides why not just cut out the centromere and eliminate the chromosome entirely? This seems like an overly complicated solution.

I wondered the same thing and according to Gemini a chromosome is massive vs a few genes. Cutting it out with crispr is possible, but it's too big of a change and would lead to cell death rendering whatever change either useless or kills the host given the possible stage this treatment could be delivered at.

Since the presence of that chromosome causes problems in an organism that functions normally with just two of these chromosomes, the change is actually not that big. And the therapy might also not be intended for adults or even children - most of the developmental impediments have already happened at that stage, and neither cutting out the extra chromosome or silencing it will fix this up.

Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#92

Post by voidUpdate »

c048 wrote: post #86
voidUpdate wrote: post #85

I have very conflicted feelings about this sort of thing. On the one hand, Down's syndrome can make life very hard, for both the person with it, and their carers and the people around them. I can imagine that some people would have preferred it if they were able to "cure" it. I've often felt in the past that I would have preferred to have been born without autism and ADHD, and while I've been coping a little better w…

The full diversity of life sounds wonderful, as long as you're not the one suffering painful, disfiguring or crippling conditions.

I am the one suffering from multiple of those conditions

Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#93

Post by samus »

shevy-java wrote: post #67
bonsai_spool wrote: post #27

This is very clever - the X chromosome has a mechanism to shut itself down (which makes sense; otherwise cells in women would have twice as many gene products from the X chromosome as cells from men). The linked research report[1] uses that mechanism, Xist , to shutdown chromosome 21, the extra chromosome whose presence causes Down syndrome. In its present form, it would need to be optimized for each potential patien…

And how do they ensure that only one X chromosome is inactivated? All three X chromosomes are, for the most part, equal, neglecting differences between father and mother X chromosome and changes during meiosis.

Presumably by targeting them toward these differences.

Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#94

Post by dreamcompiler »

shevy-java wrote: post #68
dreamcompiler wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Human women have stripey skin too, but you can't see it under normal light because unlike cats, skin tone in humans is not controlled by the X chromosome. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD6h-wDj7bw&t=225s

Can you link to a scientific article? I have severe doubts about that claim made on a random youtube video. In fact, I'd go as far as to claim that the content of the words here, are not correct. This is why I think a doi link to a research paper is necessary. I don't doubt that individual cells are, of course, chimeric, but I doubt the "stripey skin" claim. That one makes zero sense. I just did a google search and t…

I agree about the need for verification, but Veritasium videos are usually well-researched and more accurate than "random" videos.

Here's one link:

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S07380...

Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#95

Post by lofaszvanitt »

voidUpdate wrote: post #85

I have very conflicted feelings about this sort of thing. On the one hand, Down's syndrome can make life very hard, for both the person with it, and their carers and the people around them. I can imagine that some people would have preferred it if they were able to "cure" it. I've often felt in the past that I would have preferred to have been born without autism and ADHD, and while I've been coping a little better w…

What are you talking about? WHAT are you talking about?

Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#96

Post by anhner »

voidUpdate wrote: post #92
c048 wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The full diversity of life sounds wonderful, as long as you're not the one suffering painful, disfiguring or crippling conditions.

I am the one suffering from multiple of those conditions

I'm sorry to hear that. So would you like others to suffer from them as well if given the choice?

Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#97

Post by voidUpdate »

anhner wrote: post #96
voidUpdate wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am the one suffering from multiple of those conditions

I'm sorry to hear that. So would you like others to suffer from them as well if given the choice?

If they had the choice to not suffer, and they wanted to take it, then I think it's their decision to make, and not anyone else's

Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#98

Post by fainpul »

voidUpdate wrote: post #85

I have very conflicted feelings about this sort of thing. On the one hand, Down's syndrome can make life very hard, for both the person with it, and their carers and the people around them. I can imagine that some people would have preferred it if they were able to "cure" it. I've often felt in the past that I would have preferred to have been born without autism and ADHD, and while I've been coping a little better w…

I understand the concerns, but some things just make life much harder. I would definitely want to spare my child from living with autism, ADHD and certainly Down syndrome, given the choice. It's not like we're talking about choosing eye color, height or gender here.

Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#99

Post by mmustapic »

voidUpdate wrote: post #90
exe34 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've always thought we should maintain a list of people like you. Every time we cure something, like blindness in one person, one of you gets picked and your eyes get poked out. That way the total amount of suffering will be conserved, but those who think that's necessary get to be the ones who pay the price for their beliefs.

In the first half of my comment, I explained that I don't think people should suffer. I'm just also aware that if everyone can pick their child's attributes, it could lead to a nation of blond-hair, blue-eyes kids

Would you pick blond hair, blue eyes for your kids? Would black people pick it? Asian?

Re: CRISPR takes important step toward silencing Down syndrome’s extra chromosome

#100

Post by Cthulhu_ »

voidUpdate wrote: post #97
anhner wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry to hear that. So would you like others to suffer from them as well if given the choice?

If they had the choice to not suffer, and they wanted to take it, then I think it's their decision to make, and not anyone else's

But the moral conundrum here is that they can't choose untill well after they're born, meaning the parents are the ones that need to make the decision.
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