king5327 t1_jdyslcs wrote on March 28, 2023 at 4:22 AM

Reply to comment by JackD4wkins in Scientists discover how cancer cells evade immune system by BousWakebo

Healthy and cancerous cells have almost exactly the same DNA. Minus a few mutations. CRISPR can target them, but might not necessarily be able to do anything useful at those locations.

CRISPR can't tell the difference between cells, it only targets specific sequences. Cancer can be caused by many different mutations, some of which won't cause it on its own. A bad target could lead to complications.

CRISPR has to work on all of the cells, otherwise the stragglers will start a new tumor.

Altogether, for CRISPR to work needs a safe target where the change will be effective and it has to wipe the floor with all of the cancer. Which means the patient needs to be lucky for it to even be a possibility, even if the success rate is high once administered.

(Source: mostly things I've read over the past decade and a half, I may be out of date)

JackD4wkins t1_jdyyu13 wrote on March 28, 2023 at 5:30 AM

Crispr has been demonstrates to act at cancer causing mutation locations. Target selection is vital to success and require targeting multiple different mutations simultaneously.

Bad targeting has been rare and inconsequential in the context of current treatment side effects i.e. chemo and radiation.

Crispr can by used more than once to mop ip stragglers.