"We didn't see any indication of their drinking coming back to baseline, so we think that this epigenetic editing will produce a long- lasting effect." I have high hopes that more work will be done to translate this into humans for a therapy.
The Crispr injection was designed to decrease the expression of the Arc gene. Rats that weren't exposed to alcohol in adolescence were tested. The rats drank more alcohol and had more anxiety after the injection.
There is a chance that our memory could be revised. A professor of genetics at the University of California, Berkeley, and scientific director at the Innovative Genomics Institute of UC Berkeley and UC San Francisco was struck by the work. Rats aren't humans and we shouldn't jump to conclusions. The distance between curing a rat and injecting a human with addiction to alcohol with an epigenetic editor is difficult to describe. I think that we are a long way away from someone with a drinking problem getting a quick injection into their brain.
It is possible that an experimental therapy like this could be tested among people with alcohol addiction who have relapsed from treatment multiple times and have no other options left.
There could be consequences of tweaking their expression. Changing the expression of Arc could have effects on other areas. Betsy Ferguson is a professor of genetics at Oregon Health and Science University who studies epigenetic mechanisms in addiction and other mental disorders. There is a balance between finding something that is effective and something that isn't disruptive.
Alcohol use can change the expression of hundreds of genes over time. It may not be easy to turn up the expression of Arc in people. Changing the expression of many genes at the same time could cause problems. It's a difficult problem to solve because of the genes that regulate alcohol use behaviors.
It is not known how long the effects will last. Epigenetic changes can be temporary or permanent. Future generations can pass on some of them. She finds the idea of using epigenetic editing to treat alcohol addiction fascinating, but she would like to see the results replicated and the Crispr treatment tried in larger animals that are similar to humans. Researchers are studying how to turn down the expression of a gene in order to treat chronic pain. Lots of pain signals are sent out when it is highly expressed. It wouldn't be a good idea to simply remove this gene because it signals when something is wrong with the body. In rare cases, people with an SCN9A mutations that renders it inactive are immune to pain, which makes them vulnerable to injuries they aren't able to sense. Epigenetic editing in mice seemed to suppress pain for a long period of time.
epigenetic editing will be used for a wide range of conditions, including cancer and genetic diseases, according to the company. The proof of concept study shows that it may be possible to reprogram our genes to reverse some of the damage caused by alcohol abuse. He says that it is empowering to consider the fact that we now have genome editing to fight a drug.
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