Abstract

Shifting Perceptions of CRISPR

Highlights

  • More than 20 cell and gene therapies are available to safely minimize genetic diseases such as retinal dystrophy (LUXTURNA), some B-cell lymphomas (YESCARTA), and B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia (KYMRIAH).[1]

  • Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the broad potential applications of Clustered Regular Inter Spaced Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) have extended beyond gene editing

  • CRISPR is being used in rapid diagnostic testing to determine whether an individual becomes infected with SARS-Cov-2 and the specific variant.[4]

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Summary

Public Perceptions of Gene Editing Throughout the Decades

Perceptions about gene editing have fluctuated, especially since the 1970s. Support has varied for recombinant DNA in which editing a bacterial genome produces human insulin to treat diabetes, genetically modified plants such as antibiotic resistant tobacco, and other genetically modified organisms. Human gene editing has a tainted past: consider the teenager Jesse Gelsinger who tragically died in a gene therapy clinical trial in 1999.6 Another gene therapy trial led to the development of leukemia in several young children.[7] In the last two decades, there have been significant improvements in safety and reliability. Though scientists have developed various gene therapies over the years, such as viral vector delivery of therapeutic transgenes, transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENS), and zinc finger nucleotides, CRISPR far surpasses them by safety, accuracy, and ease of use.[8]

Shifting Perceptions and Broader Applications
CONCLUSION

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