American scientists have succeeded in a clinical trial that destroys cancer cells by editing immune cells with CRISPR gene scissors, a gene editing technology that cuts and rejoins DNA bases that contain information about life.
Anthony Rivas, professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA, published the results of a clinical trial on 16 people with ‘solid tumours’, which are hard lumps of cells, in the international scientific journal ‘Nature’ on the 10th (time local).
The research team first examined the blood and tissues of cancer patients’ cancer cells and discovered mutant proteins found in cancer cells but not in blood. They then engineered the T cell’s genes so that the T cell could chase the protein. It is a method where T cells that move after the protein destroy cancer cells.
The mutant proteins found show differences in morphology, etc. for each patient. The research team said, “There are mutations that are shared among patients, but these are rare, and most vary from patient to patient,” the research team said.
The research team injected engineered T cells into clinical trial participants. T cells with up to three different mutational targets were confirmed to circulate in the blood after injection. It was found to be present in higher concentrations in the vicinity of cancer cells than in non-genetically engineered cells. Although the research team injected a small amount of T cells to ensure safety, cancer cell growth stopped in 5 out of 16 participants.
Professor Rivas said, “We are trying to create an army that destroys the patient’s own T-cell cancer cells.
Companies are also trying to treat cancer using CRISPR gene scissors. Cariboo Bioscience, an American biotechnology company, is conducting research to find a way to effectively attack cancer cells by editing the genes of immune cells with the CRISPR gene scissors. The company is led by Jennifer Dowd, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), who won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for developing the CRISPR gene scissors.
