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Gene Therapy

CRISPR-Edited T Cells Show Promise in Small Human Safety Trial

Posted on 10 February 2020

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The first small human trial of CRISPR-edited T cells for cancer therapy suggests treatment has no serious adverse effects – a promising outcome for the future of CRISPR-based medicine.

The trial was conducted by researchers from the university of Pennsylvania and Stanford, and included just 3 patients. Each participant received an infusion of their own T cells, which had been genetically altered to express cancer-recognising receptors using CRISPR.

Before we did this, no one had ever infused Crispr-edited cells into patients, and we’re encouraged by the fact that we could do it safely,” says Edward A. Stadtmauer, an oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania and the study’s principal investigator. “Now we can move on to a whole new frontier of further engineering these cells and expanding the number of patients treated.

Edward A.Stadtmauer, oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania
Molteni, M. (2020). Using Crispr to Fight Cancer Shows Promise in First US Human Safety Trial. Retrieved 10 February 2020, from https://www.wired.com/story/crisprd-cells-show-promise-in-first-us-human-safety-trial/

Such gene therapy techniques have the potential to cause catastrophic immune reactions, and so the apparrent safety of this treatment is encouraging. However, while the edited T cells reached their target locations, they only stabilised participants’ cancers temporarily. Larger trials will be necessary to determine to what extent the treatment is truly beneficial.

It’s really hard for us to make any conclusion about the effectiveness of the therapy except to say it’s not 100 percent effective. You really need to treat many more patients to get at that question.

Edward A.Stadtmauer, oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania
Molteni, M. (2020). Using Crispr to Fight Cancer Shows Promise in First US Human Safety Trial. Retrieved 10 February 2020, from https://www.wired.com/story/crisprd-cells-show-promise-in-first-us-human-safety-trial/

Read more: https://www.wired.com/story/crisprd-cells-show-promise-in-first-us-human-safety-trial/


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    References

    Crispr'd Cells Show Promise in First US Human Safety Trial: https://www.wired.com/story/crisprd-cells-show-promise-in-first-us-human-safety-trial/

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