Yesterday, an exciting new paper was published, which showed that CRISPR base editing can permanently lower LDL cholesterol levels in monkeys. Let’s take a look at what the researchers did, and what would be required to do this in humans.
Considering that you & I are likely to suffer from some form of CVD during our lifetimes considering its omni-prevalence, there is a case for lowering LDL even in a healthy 20-year old. Reduction of CVD risk may scale with LDL almost all the way down, making a strong case for minimizing LDL to the lowest safe level.
Nice post! Maybe, for the sake of the theoretical discussion of course, you could use an extruder to make the liposomes? Basically it consists of two syringes with a filter paper cassette in between. The pore size in the filter determines the size of the liposomes, which are made by pushing a suspension of lipids in buffer (and RNA) back and forth ten or twenty times. The liposomes are seperated by ultra centrifugation, voila, RNA containing liposomes!
This is a great post, thank you. I'm in biology but don't have much exposure to modern gene editing techniques, and the way you explained the actual steps in the process was clear and intuitive. What do you think are the next steps - are there other obvious targets in the liver which would be amenable to this approach?
APOE would be another good target (for people who have the APOE4 Alzheimer's risk allele). Most expression is in the liver. Still, it's unknown whether liver editing (and a reduction in circulating APOE4) would be effective in protecting the brain.
Considering that you & I are likely to suffer from some form of CVD during our lifetimes considering its omni-prevalence, there is a case for lowering LDL even in a healthy 20-year old. Reduction of CVD risk may scale with LDL almost all the way down, making a strong case for minimizing LDL to the lowest safe level.
Nice post! Maybe, for the sake of the theoretical discussion of course, you could use an extruder to make the liposomes? Basically it consists of two syringes with a filter paper cassette in between. The pore size in the filter determines the size of the liposomes, which are made by pushing a suspension of lipids in buffer (and RNA) back and forth ten or twenty times. The liposomes are seperated by ultra centrifugation, voila, RNA containing liposomes!
This is a great post, thank you. I'm in biology but don't have much exposure to modern gene editing techniques, and the way you explained the actual steps in the process was clear and intuitive. What do you think are the next steps - are there other obvious targets in the liver which would be amenable to this approach?
APOE would be another good target (for people who have the APOE4 Alzheimer's risk allele). Most expression is in the liver. Still, it's unknown whether liver editing (and a reduction in circulating APOE4) would be effective in protecting the brain.