Cracking our codes becomes reality step by step. First the Watson-Crick DNA structure, then the whole genome project, and now CRISP-R gene editing lights the way of the human code cracking. I think the gene editing on embryos should be legalized. There were many new treatments in the medication history and at the beginning they were all controversial issues. Since the treatment methods of diseases are very sensitive, there are questions in people's minds and they are reacting to the issue at first. However, these studies have improved the field of health a lot, when the ethical rules are followed. If a field of work that could have such serious consequences is not made legal, then it cannot be prevented as well as the danger will increase. So if studies in this field are carried out in the name of legalization, then they will be conducted more controlled. In other words if efforts were carried out to legalise it, the work in this area would be more controlled and misuse could be prevented more easily. Rather than completely blocking the way for this work, it would be more plausible to take precautions against them by taking into account its risks. Thus, the risks of gene regulation can be reduced and safer results can be obtained. The biggest condition of legalizing gene editing is that it is only used in treatment methods. Only those who provide this condition should be allowed, so that there should be a cure for desperate diseases, without committing bio-crime.
Conley, (2019), who chaired a North Carolina Law Review Symposium on the ethical, legal, and policy implications of gene editing in October 2018, talks about the application, of CRISPR mechanism. That mechanism detects and cuts out a faulty gene then substitute it with healthy one. This method prevents a cure to gene-derived disease such as cystic fibrosis, haemophilia or sickle cell disease. But what really matters is that he argues that this should be legal and advises other lawyers. He states that method has the potential both to fix the causes of single-gene diseases and to play a role in the hindrance or treatment of diseases that are caused by a complex interaction of genes and environmental factors, together with cancer and cardiovascular disease. There were many studies about gene-editing technology before CRISP-R studies. He thoughts people afraid of gene editing because of the old problematic works with insufficient knowledge.
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Gene regulation can lead to hope for many vital and untreated diseases. Alzheimer's disease, dementia, HIV and even epilepsy are examples of diseases. A coding mutation (A673T) in the APP gene that protects against Alzheimer's disease and cognitive decrease in the aged people without Alzheimer's disease has found by the scientists that working on gene editing and Alzheimer disease. This replacement is adjoining to the aspartyl protease β-site in APP, and results in an around 40% diminishment in the formation of amyloidgenic peptides in vitro. Jonsson et.al.(2012) also add that as the A673T allele also protects against cognitive decline in the elderly without Alzheimer's disease, both of them may be mediated through the same or similar mechanisms.
The another reason it can provide good treatment for Alzheimer’s, dementia and other nervous system diseases is that the CRISPR method can persuade stem cells to grow on nerve cells. (Foundation, 2019).In their works on treatments ; (Chavez et al., 2015) have shown the benefits of activating endogenic coding and non-coding genes, targeting several genes all at same time and stimulating neuronal differentiation of pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), whose source is human. Studies have been conducted in light of the knowledge that RNA-guided nuclease enzyme Cas9, is reconfigurable as a programmable transcription factor. I will also mention this enzyme in double-chained DNA applications.
Opponents argue that it is not natural to edit genes, that naturalism would be better because of its essence. But there is one thing they are missing, diseases are natural, and millions of people are losing their lives ahead of time because of these natural diseases. If the only criterion for our protection is that they are natural, then we must not produce antibiotics against bacteria, nor fight against drought, plague and famine. ('Pro and Con: Should Gene Editing Be Performed on Human Embryos? ', 2018)
One of the reasons why this method is opposed is the thought that it will damage DNA and affect other genes. Whereas, recent studies by researchers show that the CAS enzyme can be modified to make precise adjustments to DNA without breaking the DNA strands and its potential to specifically correct genetic mutations is successful. (Komor, Kim, Packer, Zuris & Liu, 2016) points out how current studies start to correct genes. Those ongoing studies of genome-editing technologies, being carried out by breaking DNA chains at a target locus. He moves on with their own report of their work:
Here we report the development of 'base editing', a new approach to genome editing that enables the direct, irreversible conversion of one target DNA base into another in a programmable manner, without requiring dsDNA backbone cleavage or a donor template. We engineered fusions of CRISPR/Cas9 and a cytidine deaminase enzyme that retain the ability to be programmed with a guide RNA. (Komor, Kim, Packer, Zuris & Liu, 2016)
As I mentioned before CRISPR and Cas9 are very useful for the treatment of Alzheimer’s and dementia, from here we understand how comprehensive they are. Also this information refutes the hesitations of damaging DNA or genes.
What I mean is; that if gene regulation is legalized only on the condition that it is applied for treatment, then it will be both ethically reconciled and the new treatments will be paved the way. This is because not legalizing gene editing will not prevent studies, but also creates a greater risk. If studies are brought to light and kept under control, there is hope for desperate diseases that will enter the new age in the field of treatment as well.
References
- Chavez, A., Scheiman, J., Vora, S., Pruitt, B., Tuttle, M., P R Iyer, E., Lin, S., Kiani, S., Guzman, C., Wiegand, D., Ter-Ovanesyan, D., Braff, J., Davidsohn, N., Housden, B., Perrimon, N., Weiss, R., Aach, J., Collins, J. and Church, G. (2015). Highly efficient Cas9-mediated transcriptional programming. Nature Methods, 12(4), pp.326-328.
- Conley, J. (2019). ('A Lawyer’s Guide to CRISPR Gene Editing. Retrieved 2 August 2019, from https://theprivacyreport.com/2019/03/28/a-lawyers-guide-to-crispr-gene-editing/
- Foundation, L. (2019). Essay: The Cutting Edge of DNA Editing: Translating CRISPR to Improve Human Health | The Lasker Foundation. Retrieved 2 August 2019, from http://www.laskerfoundation.org/programs/lasker-foundation-essay-contest/unikora-yang-essay/?edit&language=en-us
- Jonsson, T., Atwal, J. K., Steinberg, S., Snaedal, J., Jonsson, P. V., Bjornsson, S., ... & Hoyte, K. (2012). A mutation in APP protects against Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline. Retrieved from https://www.nature.com/nature, Nature volume 488, pages 96–99. doi: 10.1038/nature11283.
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