The international summit on thegene editing, technology that allows you to modify specific sections of DNA and which received the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2020. The premises linked to this technique are more than positive and encouraging, to such an extent that experts are waiting for a wave of therapy of genetic editing in clinics over the next five years, making a dramatic transformation in the treatment of blood, heart, eye, muscle and, perhaps, even neurodegenerative diseases.
“Il Sole 24 Ore” (edition of Tuesday 7 March 2023) underlined how gene editing is advancing very rapidly and that the goal of Crispr technology (molecular scissors) applied to DNA is to “be able to cure a variety of life-threatening ailments such as cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, muscular dystrophy, various cancers, diabetes, some forms of hereditary blindness and other debilitating conditions”, also managing to provide for the insertion of totally unpublished pieces of the genome. Aspect, the latter which makes it quite clear how other health problems can also be addressed in this way, such as high cholesterol, for example.
BASIC EDITING, DNA AND CRISPR TECHNOLOGY: HOW DOES IT WORK?
The scientific community, for its part, has underlined that we have already reached Crispr 2.0, also known as basic editing. That is to say, instead of cutting the DNA, one of the four genetic bases can be converted. Kiran Musunuru, a cardiologist at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia who is co-founder and scientific adviser to Verve, said: “Crispr no longer just acts as gods scissors, but also like a pencil and an eraser. In the future, we may be able to use the same approach to protect people against hypertension and diabetes as well.”.
In addition, Il Sole 24 Ore explained, there is prime editing, or Crispr 3.0, which makes it possible to replace fragments of DNA or insert totally new genes into a person’s genome. It is a technology that has only been around for a few years and is still being explored in laboratory animals. Meanwhile, “Regulators in US and Europe to approve first Crispr-based gene-editing therapy for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia as early as this year”concluded the newspaper.
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