Treatment with CRISPR: the first successful operation on a person was carried out

The next big step in the field of biotechnology was taken by specialists from the US company Prime Medicine. They successfully tested a new gene therapy called prime-editing in humans for the first time. A detailed article about this was published in the journal Nature.

The revolutionary technology works on the basis of CRISPR and allows you to make point-by-point, precise changes in the body's DNA. That is, specialists were able to accurately identify the mutation in the exact gene and make the appropriate "correction" to it.

The first person to undergo the CRISPR procedure was an 18-year-old boy who suffered from a very rare, life-threatening immune disorder called chronic granulomatosis with polyangiitis. If not treated in time, this disease can lead to death within 6-12 months.

Doctors from Prime Medicine took stem cells from the patient's blood and corrected the mutation using CRISPR in the laboratory. After that, he received chemotherapy, and the edited cells were reintroduced into his body.

A month later, the results were positive: the patient did not experience any serious side effects, and the activity of an enzyme important for immunity was restored in 65 percent of neutrophils. This is a sufficient indicator to return the immune system to normal levels.

At the same time, Prime Medicine has decided not to mass-produce this therapy for now. The reason is that the methodology is too complicated and expensive. The company now aims to work on developing simpler and cheaper gene modifications that can be introduced directly into the body.

Zamin.uz editorial staff continues to cover how such technological innovations in medicine can change human life. What opportunities do you think genetic editing will open up for human health in the future? Read 'Zamin' on Telegram!