Ethics, Burnt to a CRISP

A Chinese researcher with an American assistant has announced an effort using the CRISPER gene editing technique to delete the  gene that allows expression of the CCR5 protein that appears on the surface of the white cell. This little protein has an extraordinary story. CCR5 is a receptor for chemokines through which the white cell is attracted to tissue and organs to do its anti-infective and inflammatory work. Ironically CCR5 is used by some HIV strains to enter and destroy white cells but there has emerged in relatively recent human history a mutation of the CCR5 gene/protein that incidentally provides protection against some of the strains in the HIV attack. This mutation is not geographically universal (it suspiciously follows the geographic pattern of Viking raids) and may have emerged as a protective adaptation to bubonic plague.

So....the Chinese researcher deleted the gene completely in an IVF twin set. Expect a patent application.

This, if true, is a scary step for serious scientists. These deletions are not accurate as yet and can cross into unintended sites. Most deletions have been aimed at expression genes, not germ cell genes which can be passed on and inherited. And does anyone know what happens if the gene is knocked out, not just altered?  One can only guess at what the scientists at Biopreparate are musing.

There is a creepy sorcerer's apprentice quality about all this. Recall, even the Chinese' major CRISPER researcher several years ago said such activity was unethical. But the curiosity of the entrepreneur--and the weapons maker--has no bounds.