CRISPR: The Promising and Perilous Genetic Publishing Tool

Chinese researcher He Jiankui said he used CRISPR to produce the world's first "designer babies". On Wednesday, he said that a second pregnancy was underway. An examination of the genetic editing system that could change our relationship with genetics for better, for worse or for both.

Why CRISPR

He Jiankui claimed to have created the first genetically modified babies in the world and used CRISPR (regular and regularly spaced palindromic repeats) to alter the genes of a pair of twins while that? they were embryos HIV-resistant babies, the virus that causes AIDS, he explained. This project is causing the possibility of a second pregnancy. The ads have been criticized by other experts in the field. The ermline cells – spermatozoa, ovules and zygotes – are controversial because the changes are transferred to the offspring.

Can Genetic Treatment Prevent Serious Illness?

In 2017, an American scientific and medical advisory group decided to support research using technologies such as CRISPR to modify human embryos for the prevention of serious diseases and disabilities. In experiments on human cells, CRISPR was used to repair a mutation that causes blindness and correct the defect responsible for cystic fibrosis. The first human trial began in China in 2016 using CRISPR-modified T cells to treat patients with lung cancer. Two studies published in mid-2018 revealed that CRISPR-published cells could potentially seed tumors, thus increasing the risk of cancer, but the link is still under study.

What is CRISPR-Cas9?

CRISPR-Cas9 is a rudimentary immune system observed for the first time in a bacterium nearly 30 years ago. These are genetic code sequences broken down by remnants of invading genes from the past.

How is CRISPR used?

In 2012, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, published a paper on creating molecular "guides" to enable CRISPR to go through DNA by targeting the right place to make a slice. Next, Broad Institute scientists said they adapted it for use in human cells. A researcher with basic skills and equipment of a few thousand dollars can use CRISPR. The gene editing system is not yet perfect: it performs unintended cuts of DNA up to 60% of the time in some applications, with unknown effects.

What is the problem with its use?

Using CRISPR to treat people who are already sick could be done through traditional consideration of risks and benefits once they are better understood. The potential to do good is enormous: eliminate a genetic disease of a family forever. But if something goes wrong, the consequences are also potentially eternal and affect future generations who can not give their prior consent. Some scientists fear that germ line modification may improve babies for non-medical reasons.