This is not an acceptable use of gene editing IMHO. Cholesterol can be managed by diet. High levels of Cholesterol are down to choices made, not some inherited disease that patients couldn't avoid from when they were born.
High cholesterol is well documented to be heritable. Perhaps more relevantly, even if they would work, lifestyle changes have a significant patient compliance problem, which significantly reduces their effectiveness.
There is a more reasonable brother argument to could make, which is that we have well tested and effective drugs available today for managing cholesterol. Any new treatment would need to clear the bar of being better than those (in at least some circumstances) to be put into wide use. This bar may cleared by the fact that existing treatments often have adverse side effects.
Further, the one time treatment aspect is actually a demerit in some ways, as one cannot stop the treatment if there is an adverse effect. This means that the safety profile would need to be much better than us typically required. And proven over a longer timeline.
Of course, this is all concerns about approval and widespread deployment. We are still in the early human trial phase, where much more risk is accepted (subject, of course, to ethical guidelines).
Genetic treatments have the scope to not only have unintended consequences, but unintended consequences that can last over generations of people. I am in favour of them for some things, but we need to tread very carefully with the technology.
Maybe such a mutation would be a suitable target for a gene editing treatment. I'm not aware of all the issues involved there. I think the linked article doesn't have enough detail to form a fair opinion with.
Suppose that we were able to develop a drug that would allow people to regrow lost limbs through gene editing.
Do you think that such a drug should not be given to anyone who lost a limb due in an accident that was partly due to their own poor judgement because it was "down to choices made"?
Also, is there something special about gene editing that means it should not be used for these situations? Or if you go outside when it's icy and fall and break a bone, should the hospital refuse to treat you since that was your own fault?
I can't see how genetic modification would be the correct way to treat such injuries.
Maybe substances that can trigger epigenetic effects would be more relevant to such things. I understand a Japanese team is working on a means of triggering tooth regrowth by means of an injection. I've got no problem with that. Or something like Skele-Gro from Harry Potter either.
Why is it better for it to be managed with diet vs this? Presumably if managing it via diet alone worked universally they wouldn't be doing research into drugs like this.
I wouldn't go that far. Other, less invasive treatments should still be available IMHO, but there should remain an element of personal accountability. Gene editing is a very powerful tool, and messing with complex systems in powerful ways that we don't fully understand could be a recipe for many troubles down the line. I think the use of gene editing should be very surgically applied to obviously detrimental mutations, not for some scatter gun like approach.
What if the body raising cholesterol levels serves some purpose we aren't yet aware of? I've heard there's some evidence that medication to reduce blood pressure has a potential link to the onset of Parkinson's disease. Maybe messing with blood pressure in that way without addressing underlying causes has been a mistake, and messing with cholesterol levels without addressing underlying causes could also be.
gizmo686|1 month ago
There is a more reasonable brother argument to could make, which is that we have well tested and effective drugs available today for managing cholesterol. Any new treatment would need to clear the bar of being better than those (in at least some circumstances) to be put into wide use. This bar may cleared by the fact that existing treatments often have adverse side effects.
Further, the one time treatment aspect is actually a demerit in some ways, as one cannot stop the treatment if there is an adverse effect. This means that the safety profile would need to be much better than us typically required. And proven over a longer timeline.
Of course, this is all concerns about approval and widespread deployment. We are still in the early human trial phase, where much more risk is accepted (subject, of course, to ethical guidelines).
nuc1e0n|1 month ago
greydius|1 month ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Familial_hypercholesterolemia
nuc1e0n|1 month ago
resoluteteeth|1 month ago
Do you think that such a drug should not be given to anyone who lost a limb due in an accident that was partly due to their own poor judgement because it was "down to choices made"?
Also, is there something special about gene editing that means it should not be used for these situations? Or if you go outside when it's icy and fall and break a bone, should the hospital refuse to treat you since that was your own fault?
nuc1e0n|1 month ago
Maybe substances that can trigger epigenetic effects would be more relevant to such things. I understand a Japanese team is working on a means of triggering tooth regrowth by means of an injection. I've got no problem with that. Or something like Skele-Gro from Harry Potter either.
wpm|1 month ago
maxerickson|1 month ago
That you don't label the specific phenotype a disease doesn't really matter.
kelseyfrog|1 month ago
nuc1e0n|1 month ago
What if the body raising cholesterol levels serves some purpose we aren't yet aware of? I've heard there's some evidence that medication to reduce blood pressure has a potential link to the onset of Parkinson's disease. Maybe messing with blood pressure in that way without addressing underlying causes has been a mistake, and messing with cholesterol levels without addressing underlying causes could also be.
wpm|1 month ago