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CRIPSR’d T cells deemed safe in human trial

A team of scientists has found that T cells from people with cancer can be removed, modified using the CRISPR gene-editing technique, and safely returned to the patients, setting the stage for subsequent cancer immunotherapy trials using the popular gene-editing technique (Science 2020, DOI: 10.1126/science.aba7365). The trial, led by Carl June of the University of Pennsylvania, involved three people, two with advanced myeloma and one with metastatic sarcoma. The research team removed T cells from each person and made three gene changes with CRISPR. They removed the genes for the α and β subunits of the T-cell receptor and then engineered the cells to display a different, cancer-specific receptor. In immunotherapy, such cell surface proteins engage with molecules on cancer cells, beginning the immune attack that leads to a cancer cell’s death. A third edit removed the gene encoding PD-1, a checkpoint protein that tamps down immune response. The three