Chinese scientists alter human genes to fight cancer

The CRISPR-edited cells were injected into a patient suffering from an aggressive form of lung cancer, on October 28 by a team from the Sichuan University in Chengdu.

Beijing, Nov 16: Chinese scientists have become the first in the world to inject an adult human with cells that have been genetically edited using the Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) technique.

According to a report in the next shark.com, the CRISPR-edited cells were injected into a patient suffering from an aggressive form of lung cancer, on October 28 by a team from the Sichuan University in Chengdu.

The trial was carried out on a cancer patient at the West China Hospital. The team used a controversial technique known as 'CRISPR-Cas9' which works like a pair of genetic scissors to cut specific sections of DNA.

The tool allows researchers to cut out genes that might cause cancer from cells and replace them with healthy DNA.

It is believed that the technique might prove a new treatment against cancer patients who have not responded to chemotherapy or radiation therapy.

OneIndia News