Theworld鈥檚firstclinicaltestofCRISPR(acronymforclusteredregularlyinterspacedshortpalindromicrepeats,ageneeditingtechnology)willbeconductedinChina.
Geneeditingreferstothetechnologyofinsertingordeletingasegmentto鈥渆dit鈥漜ertaingenes.CRISPRisthemostattractive鈥済eneediting鈥漷echnologybecauseitfacilitatesthesynthesisofthecompoundofcrRNA/tracrRNA.ThiscompoundcanleadnucleasetofindacertainpartofDNAandreplaceitwithpartsofitsown.Asawidelyinfluentialtechnology,itcanchangethecolorofmice鈥檚fur,designpest-resistantcropsandmosquitosthatdon鈥檛transmitmalaria,andmodifygenesthatcausehereditarydiseasessuchasdrepanocytemia.
ChinahaslongbeenonthecuttingedgeofthestudyofCRISPR.In2014,researchersfromNanjingUniversityannouncedthattheyhadsuccessfullyaccomplishedgeneeditinginmonkeysbydirectedmutation,thefirstrecordedsuccessfulapplicationofthistechnologyonnon-humanprimates.
Theclinicaltest,performedbyateamofscientistsfromWestChinaHospitalofSichuanUniversityinChengdu,capitalofsouthwesternChina鈥檚SichuanProvince,hasreceivedethicsapprovalfromareviewcommitteeofthehospital.ProfessorLuYou,headoftheproject,saidthatthefirsttestwouldbeconductedtotreatlungcancer,agrowingdiseasewithahighmortalityrateinChina.Theteamplanstorecruitsomepatientswithadvancedlungcancerwhosesymptomsweren鈥檛relievedbyconventionaltreatment,extractimmunocytesfromtheirbloodandinsertanewgenesegmentwhichwillcausetheimmunesystemtoevacuateatumor.AfterCRISPR,theeditedcellsareinjectedintopatients鈥檅lood.
Incidentally,thegeneeditingtechnologyusedintheclinicaltestbyWestChinaHospitaldoesn鈥檛workonreproductivegenes,soanyresultswon鈥檛bepassedtooffspring.
TheresearchconductedbyWestChinaHospitalofSichuanUniversitywillbringthefirstclinicaltestofCRISPRintheworld.However,ProfessorLusaysthatthisprojectwillonlyassesswhetherthepracticeissafe,andthatmanyunknownelementsstillneedtobetackled.