ABOVE: T cells attack a cancer cell, center.
FLICKR, ALEX RITTER, JENNIFER LIPPINCOTT SCHWARTZ, AND GILLIAN GRIFFITHS, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH
Immune cells altered by CRISPR are safe to use in cancer patients, according to results of a clinical trial reported today (February 6) in Science. While the study aimed to examine safety only, an initial look at efficacy indicates that the intervention was not a cure.
CRISPR has been touted as a revolutionary tool that has the potential to cure diseases or turn a person’s own T cells into potent cancer killers. And so researchers wanted to know: “Can CRISPR live up to its hype?” study coauthor Carl June, a cancer researcher at the University of Pennsylvania, tells HealthDay News.
June and his colleagues developed another powerful tool to ramp up T cells’ ability to attack cancer cells, the chimeric antigen receptor, or CAR, T cell treatment. In this technique, ...
