"What’s The Likelihood That CRISPR Will Cure Cancer?"-Elaine K. Howley
CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat, is genetic editing technology offering hope that one day doctors will be able to easily correct the errors that can crop up in our genetic code, leading to advanced cures for genetic diseases and cancer. Work continues to develop CRISPR-based tools that may eventually help cure cancer or at least leverage what we know about the genetic causes of cancer to guide treatment decisions. Alan B. Copperman, MD, director of the division or reproductive endocrinology and vice-chairman of the department of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai said, “in the near future, we most likely will see CRISPR and other gene editing technologies revolutionize cancer therapy. One potential application involves removing some of the patient’s own immune cells, re-programming them using CRISPR and the infusing these cells back into the patient to fight the cancer. This personalized immunotherapy approach should help in fighting off many different types of cancers.” This method is already being used as a treatment for some cases of leukemia and lymphoma.
- Alan B. Copperman, MD, Clinical Professor, Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Director, Division of Reproductive Endocrinology and Infertility, Vice Chairman, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Science, Mount Sinai Health System