In cancer therapy we know that cancers
are driven by mutant genes that drive
cancer cells to grow. In this case, we
know that cervical cancer is driven by a
virus and this is a unique gene that
drives the cancer. We've used CRISPR to
target that gene and that kills only the
cancer cells, leaving normal cells
untouched. Basically we cure cancer in
animal models entirely, so cancer cells
or the tumors have been cleared 100%
with a 100% survival rates
for every animal used in this study. So
what we did is we took human cancer
cells and use them in our preclinical
animal models. We gave them cancer. Then
we refined and designed a specific
treatment that tightens certain genes
within the DNA of that cancer cells.
What CRISPR does is it targets the gene and
it breaks it open and the body tries to
repair it by entering a few extra
letters – it's like misspelling a word and
the spellchecker no longer recognizes
that as a right word – and the gene doesn't make any protein and the cell dies. So to our
knowledge this is the first example in
the world of completely curing a cancer
using CRISPR technology. Others have
shown reductions but this is the first
complete cure. We're really excited! This
study from Griffith University is the
first to demonstrate successful
treatment of metastatic cervical cancer
using CRISPR gene editing. Our aim is to
translate this exciting finding into the
practical treatment for our women. To
help achieve this we have weekly
meetings with these exceptional research
scientists aiming to in work out ways
this can be done. We are hoping to see
our treatments being employed to human
treatment of cervical cancer and other cancers hopefully in the next five years. One of
the main things to determine there is to
make sure it's safe and effective and
decide how many treatments we need to
give a patient before they're cured of
their cancer. If we are able to identify
the driver genes that drive the cancer
cells, regardless of the type of the
cancer, this means this technology will
be able to be utilized to treat that
kind of cancer. There are labs all over
the world who are developing CRISPR
technology
for cancers and CRISPR technology is
really the next big thing in terms of
gene therapy. Things which have a very
poor survival rate now, this technology
is going to revolutionize how we treat
cancer and survival rates will improve
dramatically in the next 10 years.
