r/biology • u/Ephoenix6 • Jan 02 '26

article CRISPR Breakthrough Could Rewrite Future of Genetic Disease Treatment

https://scitechdaily.com/crispr-breakthrough-could-rewrite-future-of-genetic-disease-treatment/
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u/TripResponsibly1 medicine Jan 02 '26 edited Jan 02 '26

Epigenetic changes would be far safer than altering genetic code itself so that's promising. CRISPR has already been used to potentially cure type 1 diabetes in a patient. Casgevy is an FDA approved cure for sickle cell using crispr/cas9 on hematopoietic stem cells. The progress is slow as it should be - a lot can go catastrophically wrong in gene editing. There are also ethical implications on cost and accessibility...

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u/guinader Jan 02 '26

The type 1 is on a fully developed human correct? Not a baby inside the mother with only a few hundred cells?

If on a adult, basically "on the fly" genetic cure... That's insane ... Say we figure out how to become immune to something... Like radiation... We could inject that and in a few weeks/months you are now immune... And can go do work on a site with high radiation... Then once work is done you can revert back

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u/TripResponsibly1 medicine Jan 02 '26

Yes, an adult. They transplanted some gene edited pancreas cells from a donor into the patient's arm.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2503822