Israeli Scientists Revolutionize Cancer Treatment with Discovery of Genetic 'Scissors'
A revolutionary approach that has precisely snipped away cancerous DNA in animal trials, may be introduced in two years to fight human cancers.
According to The Times of Israel, scientists at Israel’s Tel Aviv University have discovered what they call “a more elegant chemotherapy,” through “genome editing technology.”
Dan Peer, a professor and cancer expert at the university, described the “CRISPR genome editing system,” as RNA shearing DNA like “tiny scissors.”
“This is the first study in the world to prove that the CRISPR genome editing system, which works by cutting DNA, can effectively be used to treat cancer in an animal,” Peer told The Times.
“If we can use this technology, then within three treatments we can destroy a tumor,” Peer added. “This technology can physically cut the DNA in cancerous cells, and those cells will not survive.”
Peer’s study, already reviewed by fellow scientists and published on Nov. 18 in Science Advances, explained although “molecularly targeted inhibitors and immunotherapy have greatly improved cancer responses with reduced toxicity and adverse reactions,” individuals administered cancer treatment often experience “drug resistance” and “repeated administration, which increases treatment-related toxicity and treatment cost and severely reduces patient quality of life.”Drug resistance” and “repeated administration, which increases treatment-related toxicity and treatment cost and severely reduces patient quality of life.”
We’re excited to share our paper on CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing using targeted mRNA lipid nanoparticles for cancer therapy! Check it out now @ScienceAdvances @DanielRosenblu7 @GutkinAnna @KedmiRanit @DfmLab https://t.co/Bnf5pSasIm
— The Dan Peer Lab (@peer_lab) November 18, 2020
However, with the technology’s application, “the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing has the potential to permanently disrupt tumor survival genes, which could overcome the repeated dosing limitations of traditional cancer therapies, improve treatment efficacy, and require fewer treatments,” according to Science Advances.
Peer and his colleagues Daniel Rosenblum and Anna Gutkin explained more in a video presentation.
Rosenblum said CRISPR “enables us to basically modify and disrupt any gene of interest in any cell type we want.”
Gutkin said the research honed in what she called the two “most aggressive” cancers, ovarian and glioblastoma.
“Glioblastoma is the most aggressive type of brain cancer, with a life expectancy of 15 months after diagnosis and a five-year survival rate of only 3%,” The Times reported.
“We really believe we can treat not only these diseases but open new avenues for new therapeutics for other cancers and other genetic diseases,” Gutkin added.
Peer said over 500 types of cancers exist, some possessing “unique genetic hallmarks,” for which he hoped the CRISPR genome could be applied.
Based on the team’s studies, Peer asserted in the video, if used no more than three times, CRISPR could “probably be effective enough in order to extend survival but also improve the quality of life.”
“When we first spoke of treatments with messenger RNA twelve years ago, people thought it was science fiction,” Peer told The Times. “I believe that in the near future, we will see many personalized treatments based on genetic messengers, for cancer and various genetic diseases.”
In a Nov. 21 interview with Israel’s i24 News, Peer compared the CRISPR genome’s strategy similar to the coronavirus vaccines currently undergoing trials, calling those inoculations “messenger RNA-based vaccines.”
Peer said the CRISPR genome has a more sophisticated “GPS” type of delivery, in that it “can easily identify the cancer cells and not the healthy cells.”
My @i24NEWS_EN interview with Professor Dan Peer, head of the Laboratory of precision nanomedicine @peer_lab at Tel Aviv university, about some fascinating progress being made in the search for a cure for cancer, and how it all ties in with Coronavirus. Take a look! pic.twitter.com/waqx2PFewK
— Alec Pollard (@AlecHaimPollard) November 21, 2020
“These technologies will be able to change medicine because we will be able to use the same industrial processes, in order to use it not only for vaccines but for therapeutics,” Peer said.
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