At the Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia (CHOP) and Penn Medicine, a team of individuals have managed to
edit the genes in mice to stop several lethal lung diseases at birth. In one of
their experiments, they were able to reduce the severity of surfactant protein
C deficiency and increase the chance of survival when being born from zero percent
to 22 percent. The gene editing occurs via CRISPR technology and is delivered
to the fetus via amniotic fluid. The genes were edited four days prior to the
birth of the mice, which is equivalent to the third trimester in humans. The team
of doctors is specifically looking into the use of in utero gene editing for another disease as well, such as cystic fibrosis and alpha-1 antitrypsin.
It’s amazing that a team of
individuals has figured out how to manipulate a gene to increase a child’s
chance for survival. However, the question must be asked, what else does this
open the door for? While this technology can save lives, will it also open the
door for people to edit their children in the exact type of babies they want?
It is fascinating that individuals are able to edit genes, such as this team at CHOP. Back then, people did not even know how a DNA sequence looked like and now everything is so advanced and people work hard to be able to introduce new researches to the world. I hope they are able to edit human genes in the future as long as this is use only in regards to health issues.
ReplyDeleteI personally love this. Ever since I was a kid, I was a patient at CHOP. Although I was sick, I had a good experience at this hospital. I am very happy that this team continues to construct research and are able to save the life of children.
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