FDA considers first CRISPR gene editing treatment that may cure sickle cell

Re:FDA considers first CRISPR gene editing treatment that ma... by foxyv on Monday November 20, 2023 @07:00PM (#38356818)

I imagine this wouldn't be a huge issue with women since they don't produce eggs after birth, but men continue to produce gametes for life. Is there a way to prevent the introduction of the CRISPR edits to spermatocytes? Or do you just have to bank sperm and sterilize as a condition for the treatment?

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Re:FDA considers first CRISPR gene editing treatment that ma... by ch4s3 on Monday November 20, 2023 @07:47PM (#38357213)

They’re targeting specialized cells that make blood cells outside of the body. Once they’re reimplemented they don’t move around.

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Re:FDA considers first CRISPR gene editing treatment that ma... by foxyv on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @06:01PM (#38371787)

Okay, so they modify outside of the body and then transplant. So that's why it's sickle cell first, because they can do self-transplantation with bone marrow.

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Re:FDA considers first CRISPR gene editing treatment that ma... by dekhn on Monday November 20, 2023 @08:45PM (#38357740)

Speaking generally, I think you could perform something like this on sperm stem cells. Sperm turn over (the full population dies and is replaced) fairly quickly, but the stem cells last a long time.

It seems more likely they would just, uh, collect a sample of a single sperm cell and treat that, then use it with a treated egg using IVF.

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