With cancer being the second leading cause of death worldwide (after cardiovascular disease) medical experts across the globe tirelessly look for “unconventional” ways to stop the disease. (1, 2)
In the cellular race to kill the killer, a Tel Aviv University team has discovered a new gene-editing system; to zero in and target cancer cells, without affecting other cells in the body.
A far cry from the traditional ‘cut, burn and poison’ techniques that are currently only effective in about half of cases, this new technology has been dubbed “a more elegant chemotherapy” by Prof. Dan Peer, cancer expert from the University. (3)
His research has been much peer-reviewed, along with the creators of the method, Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier, who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, for their work. (3)
Their method is being described as ‘tiny scissors’ – so how exactly can minuscule clippers kill cancer?
How Does It Work To Kill Cancer?
The team used CRISPR Cas-9, a unique technology that enables geneticists and to edit parts of the genome, to kill off cancer cells.
For the study, they chose two of the deadliest cancers: glioblastoma (aggressive brain cancer), and metastatic ovarian. The experiments involved hundreds of mice with these cancers.
The gene-editing system allows scientists to make precise alterations to DNA, and the tumors were given an injection consisting of messenger RNA that ‘encodes’ the ‘tiny scissor function’ for snipping the DNA. It’s a system for identifying cancerous cells.
It is hoped that in the future, treatment would be personalized to each patient, based on a biopsy which would determine whether they received a general injection, or an injection directly into the tumor.
Peer states “This technology can physically cut the DNA in cancerous cells, and those cells will not survive.’’
His research recently published in the Science Advances journal, reports it could be used on humans within 2 years. It was found that mice with cancer who received the treatment had double the life expectancy of the control group, and their survival rate was 30 percent higher. It is also mentioned the technique can destroy a tumor within three treatments. (3)
People Changing The Way We Kill Cancer
How the world deals with cancer depends on scientists showing us how to do it. Surgery has been around since the pre-Classical ages, and anesthesia since the late 1800s, yet to some extent the belief that cancer cannot be cured has persisted into the 21st century. (4, 5)
Until now we’ve had three basic options for dealing with the C-word- radiation, chemotherapy, or poisoning through drugs that starve tumors of nutrients or blood supply. (4)
Israel seems to have found cause for cancer-killing celebration:
“When we first spoke of treatments with messenger RNA twelve years ago, people thought it was science fiction,” said Peer. “I believe that in the near future, we will see many personalized treatments based on genetic messengers, for cancer and various genetic diseases.” (3)
Changing the way we cure, these messages of hope, along with well-designed experiments, may be curative new beginnings in the science of killing cancer.
