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Right! I wasn't aware that the editing process is quite easy once you can target a specific gene. Awesome! :)
by jstsch 13y ago
Right! I wasn't aware that the editing process is quite easy once you can target a specific gene. Awesome! :)
- mbreese 13y agoSpecifically, you can target just the defective version of the gene. In theory, your good copies could be ignored, only removing the bad genes from the cancer tissue. However, I don't think that this will ever be applied on a whole-body scale because the off-target effects aren't well characterized at this point. That is, of course, unless you have a bad cancer and have no other options. At that point, having off-target effects is the least of your concerns. The problem with gene editing in this context is that the changes are permanent. So if you miss and edit a good cell, that cell is now damaged, or may only have 1 good copy of a gene, and thus be more susceptible in the future. In some cases, shRNA to silence a gene may prove more effective because it is temporary. Right now these are only used in the lab for research.