The scientists worked with patients with metastatic melanoma. Since surgery was not possible, the volunteers were offered standard chemotherapy, but within a year, most had developed resistance to the treatment. To remedy the situation, the scientists focused on a common NRAS mutation and used CRISPR to edit the gene.
Experiments on patient cell cultures have shown that CRISPR successfully targets NRAS and restores cell sensitivity to drugs without side effects, EurekAlert writes . “It is important that the treatment is tumor-specific and affects only cancer cells without harming healthy ones,” the scientists emphasized.
They had previously achieved similar results in treating lung tumors: CRISPR successfully disabled target genes and also dealt with resistance. The approach is planned to be tested in various tumor types in the near future to assess its versatility. When the treatment reaches clinical trials, patients will be able to receive it intravenously or by direct injection into the tumor site.
In previous studies, CRISPR restored hearing in mice with congenital deafness. The treatment even helped older animals with a rare inherited form of deafness.