Doctors have reported on the first attempts in the United States to use gene editing to help patients fight cancer.
The doctors say one form of gene editing appeared to be safe when tested in three patients. But it is not yet known what long-term effects the method will have on cancer treatment or patient survival rates.
A gene editing tool called CRISPR/Cas9 was used in the tests, which were recently reported in a medical study. The method was discovered in recent years as a way to change the genetic material that make up a person’s DNA.
To successfully engineer cell or tissue implants, bioengineers must facilitate their metabolic requirements through vascular regeneration. However, it is challenging to develop a broad strategy for stable and functional vascularization. In a recent report on Nature Communications, Wei Song and colleagues in the interdisciplinary departments of Biological and Environmental Engineering, Medicine, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Clinical Sciences and Bioengineering in the U.S. described highly organized, biomimetic and resilient microvascular meshes. The team engineered them using controllable, anchored self-assembly methods to form microvascular meshes that are almost defect-free and transferrable to diverse substrates, for transplantation.
The scientists promoted the formation of functional blood vessels with a density as high as ~200 vessels per mm-2 within the subcutaneous space of SCID-Beige mice. They demonstrated the possibility of engineering microvascular meshes using human induced pluripotent stem-cell (iPSCs) derived endothelial cells (ECs). The technique opens a way to engineer patient-specific type 1 diabetes treatment by combining microvascular meshes for subcutaneous transplantation of rat islets in SCID-beige mice to achieve correction of chemically induced diabetes for 3 months.
Vasculature is an essential component of any organ or tissue, and vascular regeneration is critical to successfully bioengineer implants. For instance, during cell replacement therapy for type 1 diabetes (T1D), transplanted insulin producing cells rely on the vasculature to function and survive. Bioengineers often use vascular endothelial cells such as human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) to spontaneously assemble into tubular structures within the extracellular matrix (ECM). But the resulting structures can be random, uncontrollable and less efficient for microvascular regeneration. Scientists have recently developed three-dimensional (3D) printing techniques to engineer controlled cellular constructs with embedded vessels. However, it remains challenging to 3D print resilient and transferrable, high-resolution, microvasculature.
Prime Editing, A New Gene Editing Technique May Offer Improvement Over CRISPR : Shots — Health News A new technique, dubbed ‘prime editing,’ appears to make it even easier to make very precise changes in DNA. It’s designed to overcome the limits of the CRISPR gene editing tool.
TABLE OF CONTENTS ————— 0:00–17:57 : Introduction (Meaning of Life) 17:58–37:45 CHAPTER 1: Longevism and Life Extension —————————————————————————————– WHY DOES AGING HAPPEN? —————————————————————————————– 37:46–54:39 CHAPTER 2 : Gerontonology and Aging a. Free Radical Theory of Aging b. Waste Accumulation Theory of Aging c. Stem Cell Theory of Aging d. DNA Damage Theory of Aging. —————————————————————————————– HOW DO WE CURE AGING? —————————————————————————————– 54:39–1:08:39 : CHAPTER 3 :The Biochemical Solution (#1) a. mitoSENS b. oncoSENS c. lysoSENS d. amyloSENS e. apoptoSENS f. repliSENS g. glycoSENS 1:08:40–2:13:12 CHAPTER 4 : The Physiological Solution (#2) a. Parabiosis and Biovampirism b. Regeneration and Stem Cells c. Lab Grown Organs and Bioprinting d. Head Transplants and Doppleganger Bodies. 2:13:12–2:33:19 CHAPTER 5 : The Genetic Solution (#3) a. TALEN genetic engineering b. Zinc-Finger gene tailoring c. CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing. —————————————————————————————– WILL WE CURE AGING GENETICALLY? —————————————————————————————– 2:33:20–2:49:58 : CHAPTER 6 : Genomics and DNA 2:49:59–3:05:48 : CHAPTER 7 : Transcriptomics and RNA 3:05:49–3:22:08 : CHAPTER 8 : Proteomics and TNA 3:22:09–3:39:38 : CHAPTER 9 : Xenobiology and XNA a. alien proteins b. alien base pairs c. alien DNA 3:39:39–3:54:58 : CHAPTER 10 : Vectors and Gene Therapy (Gene Editing #1) 3:54:59–4:14:57 : CHAPTER 11 : Synthetic Biology (Gene Editing #2) 4:14:58–4:32:14 : CHAPTER 12 : Chimeras, Rianths, and Splices (Gene Editing #3) 4:32:15–4:48:35 : CHAPTER 13 : Ouroborology and Immortal Chimeras (Gene Editing #4) 4:48:36-:5:03:52 : CHAPTER 14 : Kleptoplasty and Photosynthesis (Gene Editing #5) —————————————————————————————- HOW TO SURVIVE UNTIL AGING IS CURED —————————————————————————————- 5:03:53–5:14:27 : CHAPTER 15 : Survive to the Singularity a. the breakeven point b. longevity escape velocity c. the longevity dividend. 5:14:28–5:30:16 : CHAPTER 16 : Centennarians and Blue Zones (Survival Method #0) a. loma linda b. ikaria c. sardinia d. okinawa. 5:30:17–5:42:26 : CHAPTER 17 : Risk Aversion and Micromorts (Survival Method #1) a. micromorts b.microlives 5:42:27–5:58:18 : CHAPTER 18 : Nutraceuticals and Geroprotectors (Survival Method #2) a. rapamycin b. metformin c. selegilene d. nicotinamide riboside e. resverratrol. 5:58:19–6:12:51 : CHAPTER 19 : Caloric Restriction (Survival Method #3) a. endocrine b. epigenetic c. genetic 6:12:52–6:51:57 : CHAPTER 20 : Cryonics & Cryogenics (Survival Method #4) a. the efficacy question b. the cost question c. the resurrection question d. the identity question e. the legal question f. the catastrophe question g. the culture question. —————————————————————————————– CAN WE BE IMMORTAL WITHOUT CURING AGING? —————————————————————————————– _______________________________________________________ 6:51:58–7:04:08 : CHAPTER 21 : Genetic Immortality — Test Tube Babies 7:04:09–7:24:02 : CHAPTER 22 : Genetic Immortality — Designer Babies 7:24:03–7:41:55 : CHAPTER 23 : Genetic Immortality — Clone Babies 7:41:56–7:53:08 : CHAPTER 24 : Genetic Immortality — Artificial Wombs 7:53:08–7:53:09 CHAPTER 25 : Immortalism and Ethics a. the crime argument b. the natural argument c. the boredom argument d. the inequality argument e. the overpopulation argument f. the gerontocracy argument g. the economic argument h. EPILOGUE
While the public is still imagining the future to be very much like the past, the researchers at the forefront of genetics are planning to redesign human bodies, to make us more long-lived, more resilient to disease, more strong and (I hope) more intelligent.
In a talk at Exponential Medicine, Jane Metcalfe said that tools like gene editing and synthetic biology could make design the next big thing in medicine.
The Kidney Project, a national effort to develop an implantable bio-artificial kidney that could eliminate the need for dialysis, will announce a key milestone in a November 7, 2019 presentation at the American Society of Nephrology Kidney Week 2019 conference in Washington, DC.
The team will report that UC San Francisco scientists have successfully implanted a prototype kidney bioreactor containing functional human kidney cells into pigs without significant safety concerns. The device, which is about the size of a deck of cards, did not trigger an immune reaction or cause blood clots in the animals, an important milestone on the road to future human trials.
“This is the first demonstration that kidney cells can be implanted successfully in a large animal without immunosuppression and remain healthy enough to perform their function. This is a key milestone for us,” said Kidney Project co-lead Shuvo Roy, Ph.D., a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering and Therapeutic Sciences, a joint department of the UCSF Schools of Pharmacy and Medicine. “Based on these results, we can now focus on scaling up the bioreactor and combining it with the blood filtration component of the artificial kidney.”
City of Hope researchers may have found a way to sharpen the fastest, cheapest and most accurate gene editing technique, CRISPR-Cas9, so that it can more successfully cut out undesirable genetic information.
This improved cutting ability could one day fast-track potential therapies for HIV, sickle cell disease and, potentially, other immune conditions.
“Our CRISPR-Cas9 design may be the difference between trying to cut a ribeye steak with a butter knife versus slicing it with a steak knife,” said Tristan Scott, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a staff research scientist at City of Hope’s Center for Gene Therapy. “Other scientists have tried to improve CRISPR cutting through chemical modifications, but that’s an expensive process and is like diamond-coating a blade. Instead, we have designed a better pair of scissors you can buy at any convenience store.”
The first attempt in the United States to use a gene editing tool called CRISPR against cancer seems safe in the three patients who have had it so far, but it’s too soon to know if it will improve survival, doctors reported Wednesday.
The doctors were able to take immune system cells from the patients’ blood and alter them genetically to help them recognize and fight cancer, with minimal and manageable side effects. The treatment deletes three genes that might have been hindering these cells’ ability to attack the disease, and adds a new, fourth feature to help them do the job.
“It’s the most complicated genetic, cellular engineering that’s been attempted so far,” said the study leader, Dr. Edward Stadtmauer of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. “This is proof that we can safely do gene editing of these cells.”
