Research on treating cancer with gene editing technology "CRISPR" is progressing in China

byHein Boekhout

Genetic editing technology "CRISPR", The genetic recombination technology which had been costly until then was able to be performed at low cost and in a short time. Although the advent of CRISPR in genetic engineering technology is a landmark event, on the other hand the use of CRISPR for people due to ethical issues is restricted in many countries. However, in China, research that made use of CRISPR for cancer treatment already advanced.

CRISPR In China: Cancer Treatment With Gene Editing Underway: Shots - Health News: NPR
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/02/21/585336506/doctors-in-china-lead-race-to-treat-cancer-by-editing-genes

In China, regulations are not being regulated by the authorities, rather the government is in the direction of promoting it, genomic editing has been applied to 86 people since 2015It is said. One of them is to use CRISPR for cancer treatment, one of which is in Hangzhou City, ChinaCancer medical hospitalMr. Shixiu Wu, the director of the patient, took it out of the patient's bodyT cellsI am studying immunotherapy to genetically edit with CRISPR. The study is in the clinical trial stage and Shaorong Deng, a 53-year-old who is one of the subjects, said, "This treatment is the only hope that cancer can be cured."


In addition to Mr. Wu's research, there are several research on cancer treatment using CRISPR in China,US government website8 studies have been registered for the purpose of treating lung cancer, uterus cancer, prostate cancer.

Mr. Wu's research collects T cells from a patient's blood sample and uses CRISPR to exhaust T cellsPD-1It inhibits. After that, when T cells to which genetic editing was added are returned to the body, T cells will attack cancer cells. Deng says he has begun to feel better after receiving the first T cell infusion. Twenty-one subjects including Mr. Deng are refractory esophageal cancer, but 40% of the subjects seem to have a treatment effect. According to Mr. Wu, many of the side effects suffered by the patient are minute such as fever and rash, nine people have died so far, but in either case they died for cancer rather than treatment . One of the subjects seems to have been unable to continue treatment because of high fever, but the others are said to have stabilized the condition and the symptoms were partially alleviated.

Of course, research is in the clinical stage and it is early to conclude. Although Mr. Wu has written a paper, peer review has not been done and it has not been announced.


In China there is a proverb "There is a person who dies living a living mouse" and it seems that CRISPR is easy to be recognized from the cultural background. Mr. Wu's research was examined by a committee consisting of lawyers, nurses, doctors, journalists, bioethics scholars, etc. before implementation, but the time it took to obtain permission was only two months.

Meanwhile, Lainie Ross, University of Chicago's bioethics scholar, says, "We do not fully understand CRISPR and it is possible that harm will be greater than profit, which is surprisingly powerful It is a tool and we need to be cautious. " Also, the same method as Mr. Wu, without using CRISPRCan be realized, I'm doubtful about using CRISPR. Mr. Carl June who worked at the University of Pennsylvania and engaged in cancer research using CRISPR seems to be not concerned about Mr. Wu's research content, but some of the research actually being conducted in China is high quality Some say that there are low ones, if any.

Mr. June decided to break the space development competition in a situation related to CRISPRSputnik planHe also stated that securing a situation that can focus on research while ensuring safety in the United States should be a priority issue.