Results: CRISPR Gene Editing Creates 'Designer' Immune Cells That Fight Cancer

The emergence of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology has spurred hope in both doctors and patients since it shows promise in treating a multitude of diseases, including cancer. Have you heard of CRISPR gene-editing technology before this survey?

For the first time in the United States, a team of scientists has shown that CRISPR-edited immune cells can be safely used to treat cancer patients. CRISPER gene editing is a new technology that is powerful in editing genomes, allowing scientists to easily modify DNA sequences and gene function. The method has shown promise in many applications, including correcting genetic defects, improving crop yields, and preventing disease. Do you think it's good that medical technologies have advanced to the point that we can custom-design treatments on the cellular level to treat diseases such as cancer?

The team injected CRISPR gene-edited immune cells into three people with advanced cancer without any serious side effects, which is dubbed as the first trial of its kind in the country. It's also the first cancer trial of the technique to be published in the journal Science. The newly published study follows the first report in 2019 showing that researchers used CRISPR technology to successfully edit three cancer patients' immune cells. If you had cancer, would you be willing to have CRISPR-edited cells tested on you in the hopes that it might be a new and effective treatment?

The scientists believe that with the new trial, it may become a part of an innovative cancer treatment called immunotherapy. The focus of the treatment is to boost the body's immune system to help it fight cancer. Though there are many ways to do this, one of the most popular involves reprogramming the immune system's T cells, which fight off cancer cells, microbes, and other foreign invaders. Do you think it could be possible to "train" the body to use its own immune system to defeat cancer?

After multiple different gene edits that have been done, there has been some success. The treatment may be promising but it doesn't work for everyone. In some cases, the method works at first but then, they relapse later. The scientists hope to further study the technique and see if combining it with cancer treatments can make it more effective. Are you hopeful that this treatment can be perfected to combat deadly cancer cells - and hopefully eradicate cancer as one of the fatal diseases that threatens mankind?