CUHK uses gene editing technology to treat advanced lung cancer clinical trial verification technology is safe and feasible

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Written by: Zheng Cuibi

2020-05-14 22:31

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in Hong Kong, with more than 4,000 new cases each year, of which more than eight are non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) cases. Professor Mo Shujin, director of the Department of Oncology, School of Medicine, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, conducted a clinical trial with the West China School of Clinical Medicine of Sichuan University to extract "T cells" from 12 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer using CRISPR gene editing technology After the modification, the modified T cells were returned to the patient. As a result, the patient did not have serious adverse reactions, and the frequency of the "off-target effect" was only 0.05%, which was not common. The relevant results determined that the treatment of lung cancer with CRISPR gene editing is feasible and Safety.

Many people have heard that gene editing may be associated with the mainland scientist He Jiankui's "Gene Editing Baby Incident." Professor Lu Yuming, director of the Li Ka Shing Institute of Health Sciences at CUHK, believes that the use of gene editing to treat diseases is different from the last incident. Germ cells, the influence can be passed on to the next generation.

Professor Mo Shujin conducted a clinical trial with Sichuan University and found that using gene editing technology to treat advanced lung cancer is safe and feasible. (Profile picture / photo by Gong Jiasheng)

Mo Shujin said that the current first-line treatment for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer is an immunotherapy with "antiPD-1" as an inhibitor. There is a protein called PD-1 on the surface of T cells of the human immune system. When it binds to PD-L1 of cancer cells, tumors can avoid the attack of the immune system. The role of "antiPD-1" inhibitors is to prevent PD-1 protein from binding to PD-L1, allowing the immune system to continue to function and kill cancer cells. His research with Prof. Lu You, Department of Thoracic Oncology, West China School of Clinical Medicine, Sichuan University also tried to use CRISPR technology to edit T cells, making PD-1 unable to operate on T cells.

From 2016 to 2018, the research team recruited 22 patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer to participate in the study. The patients had tried multiple treatments, but the results were not good, and only 12 of the 22 people received treatment in the end. The researchers first extracted T cells from the patient's body, edited them with CRISPR technology, and then returned them to the patient's body, allowing them to function in the body as an immunotherapy.

Lung cancer is the number one cancer killer in Hong Kong, with more than 4,000 new cases every year. (Profile picture)

The study found that none of the 12 people had serious or fatal adverse reactions, and the frequency of "off-target effects" was only 0.05%, which is not common. The "off-target effect" refers to the fact that other than the target gene itself, other genomes have undergone unexpected mutations at the same time, which may be harmful to the human body. The team believes that the results confirm that CRISPR gene editing is feasible and safe to treat lung cancer.

The team continues to point out that because the purpose of this study is to test the safety and feasibility of gene editing technology, rather than to analyze its efficacy; and most patients are in advanced stages, so there is limited reference material available in terms of efficacy. However, among the 12 people, the 55-year-old woman who had the best response to treatment had significantly reduced tumors after treatment, with a period of no deterioration for a year and a half (75 weeks).

Professor Lu Yuming believes that treating diseases with gene editing is different from the "gene editing baby event". (Profile picture / Photo by Zhang Haowei)

Lu Yu believes that cell therapy technology using gene editing has great potential to become a new direction for the treatment of lung cancer in the future. To improve the effectiveness of gene editing therapy, it is necessary to start treatment for patients as soon as possible to ensure that their T cells are in a healthy state. This is the first phase 1 clinical trial in the world that uses human gene editing technology as a treatment option for advanced lung cancer. Related research results have been published in the medical journal Nature Medicine.

Professor Lu Yuming, a professor of medicine at Li Ka-shing and a professor of chemical pathology at CUHK, believes that the "gene editing baby event" edits a person's reproductive cells. If the baby grows up and has children, the effect can be passed on to the next generation. As for the treatment of diseases with gene editing, unlike the last incident, gene editing technology has been applied in different places around the world, such as the treatment of cancer and genetic diseases. The most important thing is to first prove that gene editing technology is effective and safe, depending on the actual situation. The feasibility and price issues are medical advancements.

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Gene Technology Chinese University Chinese University Hospital Lung Disease