A 13-year old girl in the U.K. saw her cancer go into remission after becoming the first person in the world to receive a treatment that relies on a newer type of Crispr gene editing called base editing.
It’s a wonderful first application of the technology, which allows scientists to make precise, single-letter changes to DNA. And while it’s still very early days for base editing — the first tool was discovered just six years ago — it’s stunning to watch how quickly new inventions are moving from the lab into potential cures.
Alyssa, the patient in the U.K., was diagnosed last year with a form of blood cancer called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, or T-ALL. Kids with T-ALL typically respond well to chemotherapy, and those who don’t go on to get bone marrow transplants. Unfortunately, Alyssa’s cancer stubbornly resisted both and she was out of options when her family was informed about an experimental therapy developed by Waseem Qasim, a professor of cell and gene therapy at University College London.