MIT Scientists Sucessfully Edit Out Bad DNA and Cure Disease

A new technique that edits out faulty DNA may be able to cure many diseases like liver disease and HIV.  According to Nobel prize winner professor Craig Mello using the technique called Crispr that have cured liver disease in living, adult mice for first time using a ‘jaw-dropping’ genome-editing technique that could soon be used on humans. He adds this is a real game changer in the fight against disease.

Crispr – pronounced ‘crisper’- was used to correct a single ‘letter’ of the mices' genetic alphabet which had been mutated in the gene associated in liver metabolism.

Clinical trials raise hope that in future human trials can be conducted to treat many genetic maladies such as Down syndrome, Sickle-cell anemia and Huntington’s disease.  They are even those of the opinion that this could be used in prebirth situations to clear up problems before the baby is born.

Previously gene therapy relied on using viruses to insert DNA at random into the human genome - an inaccurate and risky process.

Said MIT’s Daniel Anderson, the senior author of the paper ‘What’s exciting about this approach is that we can actually correct a defective gene in a living adult animal,’. He then added, ‘The Crispr system is very easy to configure and customize,’

A friend of my mother’s died from Huntington’s disease in a very slow, painful and debilitating way so I find this new research and technology exciting, with many possibilities for human intervention to diseases that affect many of us.