When it comes to the coronavirus we haven’t really had any good news lately and I’m afraid that’s not likely to change anytime soon. In addition to lingering cases that result in lengthy rehab (1 in every 10 patients appear to never fully recover) there is also now talk about PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) setting in for survivors of lengthy hospital stays. That’s why wearing a mask is so critical. Even if you are young and likely to recover from COVID-19 you shouldn’t want to risk the chances of getting PTSD or never fully recovering at all.
But it’s not all bad news when it comes to medical science. In fact, we may have some genuine good news on the horizon: an unprecedented cure for heart disease thanks to gene editing! That’s right. In the near future you may be able to take an injection that would lower your cholesterol for the rest of your life.
According to the New York Times:
“People with increased blood levels of triglycerides and LDL cholesterol have dramatically greater risks of heart disease, heart attacks and strokes, the leading causes of death in most of the developed world. Drug companies already have developed and are marketing two so-called PCSK9 inhibitors that markedly lower LDL cholesterol, but they are expensive and must be injected every few weeks.
Researchers at Verve Therapeutics, led by Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, the chief executive, decided to edit the genes instead. The medicine they developed consists of two pieces of RNA — a gene editor and a tiny guide that directs the editor to a single sequence of 23 letters of human DNA among the genome’s 32.5 billion letters.
The RNA is shrouded in tiny lipid spheres to protect the medicine from being instantly degraded in the blood. The lipid spheres travel directly to the liver where they are ingested by liver cells. The contents of the spheres are released, and once the editor lands on its target, it changes a single letter of the sequence to another — like a pencil erasing one letter and writing in another.
Not only did the system work in 13 monkeys, the researchers reported, but it appeared that every liver cell was edited. After gene editing, the monkeys’ LDL levels dropped by 59 percent within two weeks. The ANGPTL3 gene editing led to a 64 percent decline in triglyceride levels.”
Hopefully this research continues to progress and proves successful in human trials as well. We can certainly use the good news.
Is using gene editing to cure heart disease the Greatest Idea Ever?
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