In this entry I will tell about three wonderful developments in genetic engineering from the last year. All of them, by the way, are the product of genetic engineering technology so sophisticated that we are still trying to understand what its limit is. And the meaning is that these developments are only the tip of the iceberg, and many more will follow
I know that we think that 2020 was one of the worst years, but the truth is that some very exciting things happened in the field of biology that - without exaggeration at all - are about to change the world. And this is regardless of the vaccine.
In this entry I will tell about three wonderful developments in genetic engineering from the last year. All of them, by the way, are the product of genetic engineering technology so sophisticated that we are still trying to understand what its limit is. And the meaning is that these developments are only the tip of the iceberg, and many more will follow.
So what did we have in 2020?
Genetic engineering to treat blood diseases
Sickle cell disease is one of the most common genetic diseases. The red blood cells take the shape of a sickle and get stuck in the small blood vessels. A bit like a tourniquet all over the body. The disease has no cure, and the patients are stuck with it for the rest of their lives. One can only reduce the intensity of the pain and try to deal with the inevitable complications[1].
So, at least, until now.
In mid-2019, doctors re-engineered the stem cells of Victoria Gray, 34 years old with sickle cell disease in an advanced stage[2]. The cells were reprogrammed to produce round, healthy red blood cells. A year later, that is now, Gray is still perfectly healthy[3]. It's still too early to say that the treatment cured her for the rest of her life, since we'll have to wait a few more decades for that, but there's no reason to think that her body will get rid of the engineered stem cells.
And so, in 2020, we showed that it is possible to treat severe hereditary diseases through a one-time treatment, for at least one year - and probably much longer.
And this is just the beginning.
This year, promising results of two clinical studies in Germany were published, in which the cells of patients with a disease called beta-thalassemia - another blood disease that disrupts the function of red blood cells - were re-engineered. These patients often receive blood transfusions in order to survive, but after the treatment they no longer needed blood transfusions - and here, too, we may have been able to cure the disease completely, for the rest of their lives.
And why stop here? In the next decade you can expect more hereditary diseases to be corrected through genetic engineering. It is difficult to know yet which diseases will be treated first, but this revolution has already begun to take place: medical treatment that directly affects the cause of the disease, neutralizing it so that further treatment is not necessary.
Suddenly 2020 looks a lot better, doesn't it?
Genetic engineering of mitochondria
The mitochondria (this is the plural term) are the powerhouses of almost every human cell. They are the ones thanks to whom we can continue to exist. They have their own genetic code, which is buried deep in the content, and sometimes mutations can also happen in it. More than a million people suffer from inherited mitochondrial diseases, which often lead to premature death.
Conventional genetic engineering has not helped to treat these diseases so far, because the genetic code hidden by the mitochondria needs to be fixed. But this year, groundbreaking tools were demonstrated for the first time that are able to penetrate mitochondria and precisely change their genetic code[4]. These tools have not yet been tested on humans, but if you read the first development in this entry, you probably understand the direction. It will take many more years for this technology to reach the general public, but the first step in this direction will be taken in 2020. Our friend the mitochondria
genetically modified animals
We are engineering animals at an increasing rate. To some people this must sound terrible, but you should remember that we have been doing this for thousands of years by crossing animals with the desired traits with suitable others. The new genetic engineering technology allows us to speed up processes that would have taken hundreds of years, and create them in just one year.
So what genetically engineered animals have the labs produced this year?
Let's start with pigs. This year, for the first time, pigs were demonstrated that were engineered to be completely immune to the disease called "porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome", which has long since spread all over the planet. In the European Union alone, it costs the meat industry almost one and a half billion euros, and the lives of many pigs. Through a relatively simple act of genetic engineering, the new pigs are resistant to the disease. The virus simply cannot attach to their cells. It can be hoped that the meat industry will quickly adopt the new breed[5]. Not only in the name of humanity (because you know - the pigs are going to be killed anyway), but because the meaning of a pig contracting a disease is that we wasted a lot of resources to raise it... and those went down the drain as soon as it got sick.
So genetic engineering can also help prevent waste of resources that ultimately harms the environment. And not only in pigs: chickens have also been re-engineered to be immune to a common poultry disease[6].
The idea of making animals resistant to disease is already well known, but here's another fascinating idea that was successfully demonstrated this year: a small intervention in the genetic code of a calf resulted in three-quarters of its offspring being male, instead of rolling the usual half-and-half dice.[7]. Why is this good, you ask? Because female cows are less efficient in converting food into protein, therefore if we get more males - we can get more meat, with the same investment of resources[8]. A similar game in the genetic code of chickens may in the future result in almost all the chicks hatching being female - thus preventing the premature death of millions of male chicks every year.
Well, let's not get carried away. The female chickens will also be killed after a while. But since half of the chicks today aren't really needed, we can cut the amount of resources needed for chickens to lay eggs by about half.
Again, genetic engineering for the environment.
Summary
All this, and many other developments in the field of genetic engineering, happened this year. You can already see the buds of the medical and biological revolution beginning to open and soon bear fruit.
And last but not least: if you are excited by the enormous potential inherent in genetic engineering to improve the world, you are absolutely right. And if you are horrified at the sight of the way in which we are changing the world for the benefit of humans - well, justice is with you in this case as well. In the end, any technology is a double-edged sword - it can bring enormous benefit to humanity, or have a negative impact on the world. In the end, the duty rests on us to choose to use it correctly.
But in the meantime we will end with a blessing that no one thought of: God willing we will experience many more years like 2020!
More of the topic in Hayadan:
[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sickle-cell-anemia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355876
[2] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2019/12/25/784395525/a-young-mississippi-womans-journey-through-a-pioneering-gene-editing-experiment
[3] https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/06/23/877543610/a-year-in-1st-patient-to-get-gene-editing-for-sickle-cell-disease-is-thriving
[4] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-02054-5
[5] https://www.theguardian.com/science/2018/jun/20/scientists-genetically-engineer-pigs-immune-to-costly-disease
[6] https://www.pnas.org/content/117/4/2108
[7] https://www.wired.com/story/a-crispr-calf-is-born-its-definitely-a-boy/
[8] https://www.wired.com/story/crispr-gene-editing-humane-livestock/
