by By Beth JoJack – Medical News Today
For the first time, researchers have used CRISPR gene-editing technology to substitute a gene in a patient’s immune cells to redirect those cells to fight cancer.
Details of a small human clinical trial using this approach are explored in a paper published in NatureTrusted Sourceand they were presented on November 10 at the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer in Boston, MA.
“I consider this a big deal,” said Dr. Arelis Martir-Negron, not involved in this study. Dr. Martir-Negron is a medical geneticist at Miami Cancer Institute, part of Baptist Health South Florida.
“CRISPR is by itself a newer technology, and the fact that they can do the change and remove at the same time,” said Dr. Martir-Negron. “That is what is amazing because in the past […] it would have been almost impossible to do the two things.”
Dr. Stefanie Mandl, chief scientific officer at PACT Pharma and one of the authors of the paper, told Medical News Today that the results of the trial demonstrated early proof of concept. PACT Pharma is a biopharmaceutical company working to develop personalized treatments to eradicate solid tumors.