First U.S. Patients Treated With CRISPR

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The powerful gene-editing technique called CRISPR has been in the news a lot. And not all the news has been good: A Chinese scientist stunned the world last year when he announced he had used CRISPR to create genetically modified babies.

But scientists have long hoped CRISPR — a technology that allows scientists to make very precise modifications to DNA — could eventually help cure many diseases. And now scientists are taking tangible first steps to make that dream a reality.

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For example, NPR has learned that a U.S. CRISPR study that had been approved for cancer at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia has finally started. A university spokesman on Monday confirmed for the first time that two patients had been treated using CRISPR.



One patient had multiple myeloma, and one had sarcoma. Both had relapsed after undergoing standard treatment. The revelation comes as several other human trials of CRISPR are starting or are set to start in the U.S., Canada and Europe to test CRISPR's efficacy in treating various diseases.

"2019 is the year when the training wheels come off and the world gets to see what CRISPR can really do for the world in the most positive sense," says Fyodor Urnov, a gene-editing scientist at the Altius Institute for Biomedical Sciences in Seattle and the University of California, Berkeley.

Here are highlights of the year ahead in CRISPR research, and answers to common questions about the technology.

What is CRISPR exactly?

CRISPR is a new kind of genetic engineering that gives scientists the power to edit DNA much more easily than ever. Researchers think CRISPR could revolutionize how they prevent and treat many diseases. CRISPR could, for example, enable scientists to repair genetic defects or use genetically modified human cells as therapies.(Más)