What's the Likelihood That CRISPR Will Cure Cancer?

        As you may know, after taking biology courses in high school and college, DNA is an extremely important aspect in everything living.  DNA is subject to change, and go through transformations after being exposed to environmental and genetic factors.  Sometimes after DNA is exposed to different influences, its sequence changes, and new genetic codes are created, which sometimes can result in diseases and disorders, one being cancer. 

        CRISPR, or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat, is new technology that has the ability to edit and modify genes.  Even though there are multiple gene editing tools, CRISPR is the most precise and practical one, because it has the ability to edit the DNA at the specific spots effected.  With this new technology scientists are able to modify genes and correct DNA sequences at specific locations permanently, and cut out the DNA code.  Our hope is that one day scientists can "be able to easily correct the errors that can crop up in our genetic code, leading to advanced cures for genetic diseases and cancer." (Howley, 2018)

       After research, and using CRISPR, doctor's have been able to alter embryonic DNA to eradicate genetic diseases in DNA sequences.  Experts know that CRISPR has the capabilitiy to change DNA to "cure" someone from a disease, the only thing is that the genetic edits must be made to each and every single cell that's involved in that disease process, which is a difficult thing to accomplish, considering there are millions.  Hopefully, as CRISPR continues to develop and flourish we can develop a way to treat cancer.  Since cancer has the ability to spread and develop all over the body CRISPR would have to change the genetic mutation that caused the cells around a persons entire  body to become cancerous, back to normal.  Dr. Alan B. Copperman, from Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has his own approach to use the technology in cancer gene editing, and is already being used to try and treat those with leukemia and lymphoma.  For example, his idea "involves removing some of a patient's own immune cells (T cells), re-programming them using CRISPR and then infusing these cells back into the patient to fight the cancer.  This personalized immunotherapy approach should help in fighting off many different types of cancers." (Howley, 2018)

      CRISPR has a long way to go, and doctor's around the world are working hard to change the lives of those in need, and give patients the opportunity to receive treatment. 

https://health.usnews.com/health-care/patient-advice/articles/2018-09-12/whats-the-likelihood-that-crispr-will-cure-cancer

https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/genomicresearch/genomeediting

Gene Editing on Ants

An article from Discover Magazine wrote about a science research team from New York University on the testing of ants with a gene modification tool called CRISPR. CRIPSR has been the face of genetics recently because of the wonders it's capable of doing. With the support of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, the science team are not conducting some ordinary ant study, they are focusing on how ant colonies successfully organize and execute difficult tasks.  The research team had used the CRISPR to remove a single gene code that is crucial towards the translation of a protein correlated to the working of olfactory receptors in Indian jumping an
ts. When the gene was removed, the ants were unresponsive to sense of smell, a trait which is passed in future generations. With this sense removed, it is observed that this was very important in the life of an ant. Also the Indian jumping ants' brains were changed as well. A fraction of 'glomeruli', an important factor that processes olfactory information, was shrunk in size on the ants' brains. This as a result affected their organization, which was unusual because ants are known to be very good at organization. These observations were very insightful because it give more information towards the cause and effects with CRISPR technology.

Microbial Therapeutics

Bacteria are normally thought of as harmful or infectious. However, a growing field known as microbial therapeutics makes bacteria beneficial to humans. The bacteria would act like secret agents and release medicine only when instructed to. The release of the medicine to one particular area increases the efficiency of the medicine in comparison to a medicine given to the entire body. In order to induce the release of the medicine, a ultrasound machine will gently heat up the desired area. This therapy seems to most useful for cancer and diseases of the gut. The research done so far on mice has been able to show how the temperature increase causes the release of the drug and also once the temperature gets too high, like a fever, the bacteria no longer releases it. The bacteria then has an on and off switch.
Taking things a step further, the research has also shown that the newly engineered bacteria in the patient could also be programmed to self-destruct after leaving the body. The decrease in temperature from the inside the body to the outside world, could activate a genetic switch to destruct. One of studies have shown that the engineered bacteria can release a tumor destroying drug, hemolysin directed to the tumor. The mechanism of genetically modifying the bacteria involves two proteins, one from a virus, bacteriophage and one from Salmonella. Both of the proteins bind to the DNA to turn the genetic code on or off in response to temperature.

The idea that medicine can be dispensed from a bacteria is quite genius and the fact that it can also be temperature controlled is out of this world. The scientists working on this seem to have put a lot of time into every last detail of this creation and I cannot wait to see how it affects our world. I wonder how many different conditions this can help after more research is done. 

Sources:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161114142353.htm

http://digital.csic.es/bitstream/10261/127912/1/COBIOT-D-15-00008R1.pdf

New Gene Editing

Back in the early 90's, a gene editing technique involved CRISPR. This technique of gene editing removes, adds, or edits the DNA of a dividing cells through the use of an enzyme and a piece of RNA (gRNA). The RNA binds to the desired DNA sequence and then the enzyme Cas9 cuts at that position.  The natural repair system in the cells repairs the cut which causes a mutation. Similarly, a new technique designed by Salk Institute allowed a gene editing technique in non-diving cells.
The DNA repair pathway targeted was the NHEJ, also known as the "non-homologous end-joining", that repairs routine DNA breaks by rejoining strand ends. The old technique involved an enzyme and piece of RNA while the new technique is a custom made insertion complex known as HITI. The complex is made up of a mass of nucleic acid. The nucleic acids in HITI are delivered using an immobile virus. The first time this was used, it was delivered to neurons which indicated that this method could deliver information to non-dividing cells. The picture below is a picture of the neurons of the mouse brain. The blue neurons are the original ones while the green ones are the gene-edited neurons.

The next challenge was testing other non-diving cells like the retinal cells. The study was performed in rats that suffered from reunites pigmentosa, which causes blindness. A functional copy of one of the genes responsible for the condition, Mertk, was inserted into the eyes of a mouse with the condition. The study found that the rats were able to respond to light and passed tests that indicated improved vision.

The new technique brings light to the number of possibilities that our science community as a whole has created. One of the ideas mentioned, blindness, started in mice but could hopefully work its way up to humans. I would like to see what this new gene editing technique can bring to many different non-dividing cells. I could not imagine how much happiness this could bring to those that struggle with conditions affecting non-diving cells.







Sources:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/11/161116144134.htm
http://www.yourgenome.org/facts/what-is-crispr-cas9