How Gene Editing Could Help Solve the Problem of Poor Cholesterol

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. and around the world. Though it’s held the top spot for decades, it wasn’t always the king of mortal maladies. Its ascension was propelled by two of medical science’s greatest successes. “Before the 20th century, heart disease was an uncommon cause of death,” says Dr. Michael Shapiro, a professor of cardiology at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine. Bacterial infections such as tuberculosis and dysentery, as well as smallpox and other contagious viruses, were common killers. “Antibiotics and vaccines changed everything.” Some experts believe that gene editing using CRISPR technologies could be medical science’s next big breakthrough—an advancement that allows the human race to smash through the longevity ceiling imposed by heart disease, and maybe also other common killers. One day, hopefully, “CRISPR technology could be used to treat many conditions, for example neurological disease, cancers, and cardiovascular disease,” says Dr. Qiaobing Xu, a gene-editing researcher and professor of biomedical engineering at Tufts University. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Perhaps the most tantalizing of these applications involves lowering cholesterol, specifically the “bad” kind: low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. “While cholesterol is an essential molecule for myriad biological processes, if blood levels of L...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized healthscienceclimate heart health Source Type: news