HPV about to be cured by CRISPR any time soon?

1.What is HPV?

Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) is a DNA virus from the papillomavirus family, of which over 170 types are known. More than 40 types are transmitted through sexual contact.

HPV infections result in warts or precancerous lesions. The precancerous lesions increase the risk of cancer of the cervix, vulva, vagina, penis, anus, mouth, or throat. Nearly all cervical cancer is due to HPV with two types, HPV16 and HPV18, accounting for 70% of cases. Between 60% and 90% of the other cancers are also linked to HPV. HPV6 and HPV11 are common causes of genital warts and laryngeal papillomatosis.

HPV is the most common sexually transmitted infection globally. Most people are infected at some point in their lives.

2.Can a HPV infection be cured?

There is no cure for a HPV infection, yet.

This could change in the near future. 20 new CRISPR clinical trials are set to begin in the rest of 2017 and early 2018. Most of the research will be done in China focusing on disabling cancer’s PD-1 gene that fools the human immune system into not attacking the cells.

Different trials are focusing on different types of cancer including breast, bladder, esophageal, kidney, and prostate cancers.

One of these trials will involve the first-ever attempt to use CRISPR to edit cells while they are inside the body. The aim is to prevent cervical cancers by targeting and destroying the genes of the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) that cause tumor growth. This study is due to begin in July 2017 at Sun Yat-Sen University in China.

A further four planned CRISPR trials involve changing immune cells to make them better at killing cancers. Such altered cells have already saved the lives of two girls, but these cells were created with an older gene-editing method. Now a clinical trial is due to start in the UK.

Two similar cell-altering trials are planned in China, with another in the US. Trials are also planned for Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

3.What will change?

If these trials are successful, it could act as a milestone in the CRISPR process and benefit millions of people. In the U.S. alone, there are more than 3 million new HPV infections every year from which about 27,000 cases result in cancer.

The CRISPR process could be nothing short of a miracle: if it passes all medical tests it wouldn’t just boost medicine onto another level, it would change the definition of medicine in general.

CRISPR is cheaper and quicker than other gene editing therapies, and could potentially save millions of lives by curing diseases we can only deal with therapeutically like cancer, diabetes, virus infections and cystic-fibrosis.

These are exiting times. CRISPR will change the world.

For further details:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2133095-boom-in-human-gene-editing-as-20-crispr-trials-gear-up/

https://futurism.com/3-this-crispr-trial-will-be-the-first-to-try-editing-cells-inside-the-body/