A group of Chinese scientists is likely to become the first in the world to inject people with cells modified using the CRISPR Cas9 gene¹-editing technique.

 

一批中国科学家可能是世界上首次将利用CRISPR Cas9基因编辑技术修改的细胞植入人体。
 

 

A team at a hospital in the southwestern Chinese city of Chengdu is planning to test such cells on lung cancer patients. 

 

The clinical trial, which is scheduled to begin next month, has received ethical² approval from the hospital's review board. 

 

The Chinese team will extract immune cells from the blood of patients and perform CRISPR Cas9 editing to them. 

 

The technology pairs a molecular³ guide with an enzyme⁴ to snip⁵ the chromosome⁶, and knock out a cancer gene to prevent it from attacking healthy cells. 

 

The gene-edited cells will then be multiplied in the lab and re-introduced into the patient's bloodstream. 

 

CRISPR Cas9 is also set for a U.S. trial in which researchers will attempt to knock out two genes⁷ and insert a third before the cells are re-introduced.

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