Kelly Banas and Eric B. Kmiec , 2025-04-14 08:30:00
The medical promise of CRISPR gene editing can be seen most easily in current research on oral cancer, which affects more than 50,000 Americans every year. An increasing challenge in the treatment of oral cancer is that tumors become resistant to chemotherapy. By injecting CRISPR gene editing directly in the tumors and targeting the genetic resistance to common chemotherapy agents, we could potentially enable that standard of care for cancer to work once again for patients, overcoming one of the toughest hurdles in treatment today. In doing so, we may improve outcomes for a disease whose demographics skew toward low-income communities.
CRISPR is not a miracle product that can magically cure cancer. It is, however, an exceptionally powerful tool that is creating entirely new possibilities in cancer treatment.
As scientists, we have taken on the drudgery of understanding the mechanism of action of CRISPR-directed gene editing and how to apply it. These studies often do not make a splash in the field and are almost never presented at major meetings, yet they provide guidance as to how best to harness the power of this technology. The outcome is not always what we want; we would love to cure systemic diseases by repairing the mutations that causes them. But at this point in the science, big leaps are simply not practical.
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