--- title: "First U.S. Study to Use CRISPR to Fight Cancer “Very Promising”" description: "Researchers say they've determined a new cancer treatment that uses CRISPR to gene edit cells is safe and could be effective." date: "2019-11-07" modified: "2020-02-06" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/study-crispr-fight-cancer-promising" categories: - "Cancer" - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" tags: - "cancer" - "CRISPR" - "crispr gene editing" --- # First U.S. Study to Use CRISPR to Fight Cancer “Very Promising” ![Researchers say they've determined a new cancer treatment that uses CRISPR to gene edit cells is safe and could be effective.]() *\Image: NIAID/Victor Tangermann\* For the first time ever, scientists have tested CRISPR gene-editing technology on cancer patients. It's only a preliminary step before such a treatment could be used in human trials, [according to *The New York Times*](), but the researchers are optimistic. "This treatment is not ready for prime time," principal investigator Edward Stadtmauter, professor of oncology at the University of Pennsylvania, [admitted to *NPR*](). "But it is definitely very promising." The findings have yet to be peer-reviewed, but the researchers did [post them online](). The team will be presenting the study at a meeting of the American Society of Hematology in Orlando, Florida, next month. The researchers extracted T-cells — cells that play a critical part in the body's immune system — from the patients' blood, and used CRISPR to edit out three specific genes that could stand in the way of their ability to fight cancer. "Once we infused these cells, there was anywhere from a 10,000-fold to 100,000-fold increase in the amount of cells growing in the patients, which is exactly what we hoped for," Stadtmauer told the *NYT*. There's wide interest in using CRISPR to treat human patients. In July, pharmaceutical companies Editas Medicine and Allergan [announced]() [that it's]() planning to use CRISPR to treat an eye disorder that causes blindness. "It really just opens up a whole world of this type of manipulation of cells to be directed to whatever the imagination can think of,” Stadtmauer told the *Times*. ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()