{"id":1203668,"date":"2023-11-16T12:00:40","date_gmt":"2023-11-16T17:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1203668"},"modified":"2023-11-16T12:00:40","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T17:00:40","slug":"researchers-developed-a-gene-editing-technology-that-reduces-bad-cholesterol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1203668","title":{"rendered":"Researchers developed a gene-editing technology that reduces &#039;bad&#039; cholesterol"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a trial run by <a data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/ir.vervetx.com\/news-releases\/news-release-details\/verve-therapeutics-announces-interim-data-verve-101\"><ins>Verve Therapeutics<\/ins><\/a>, a Cambridge\u2013based biotech company, researchers discovered that a single infusion of a gene-editing treatment called VERVE-101 was able to reduce cholesterol levels in patients. This treatment was tested in individuals with hereditary conditions that made them susceptible to developing clogged arteries and heart attacks. Scientists were able to use <a data-i13n=\"cpos:2;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/crispr-gene-editing-blood-injection-213815705.html\"><ins>CRISPR editing<\/ins><\/a> techniques to tweak liver gene cells. The researchers <a data-i13n=\"cpos:3;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vervetx.com\/sites\/default\/files\/2023-11\/Verve_AHA_2023_LBS_for%20website.pdf\"><ins>\u201cturned off\u201d<\/ins><\/a> a cholesterol-raising gene called PCSK9, which is found in the liver, in order to lower <a data-i13n=\"cpos:4;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/my.clevelandclinic.org\/health\/articles\/24391-ldl-cholesterol\"><ins>LDL-C<\/ins><\/a> \u2014 sometimes called  &#8220;bad&#8221; cholesterol \u2014\u00a0which causes plaque to build up in arteries in the first place.<\/p>\n<p>PCSK9 was lowered by as much as 84 percent in the cohorts that received higher infusion rates of the treatment. At those higher treatment doses, Verve scientists said that the reduction of those LDL-C-related proteins lasted <a data-i13n=\"cpos:5;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vervetx.com\/sites\/default\/files\/2023-11\/Verve%20heart-1%20IR%20deck_for%20website.pdf\"><ins>2.5 years<\/ins><\/a> in previous studies on primates.<\/p>\n<p><span id=\"end-legacy-contents\" \/><\/p>\n<figure><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\" data-crop-orig-src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/os\/creatr-uploaded-images\/2023-11\/d58aa830-849d-11ee-8f9e-b6439ab27394\" style=\"height:1080px;width:2494px\" alt=\"VERVE-101 explained visual.\" data-uuid=\"52feba77-cd43-34fe-9738-10ffeb5216c6\" \/><figcaption \/>\n<div class=\"photo-credit\">Verve Therapeutics <\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>From a clinical standpoint, this gene editing therapy has the potential to disrupt the current standard treatment for high cholesterol. The current go-to&#8217;s include prescription statins and PCSK9 inhibitors, but they require strict adherence and can have <a data-i13n=\"cpos:6;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mayoclinic.org\/diseases-conditions\/high-blood-cholesterol\/diagnosis-treatment\/drc-20350806\"><ins>bad side effects like muscle pain and memory loss.<\/ins><\/a><\/p>\n<p>CRISPR, while seemingly miraculous, is a long way from replacing daily medications though. According to <a data-i13n=\"elm:affiliate_link;sellerN:Nature Research;elmt:;cpos:7;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/shopping.yahoo.com\/rdlw?merchantId=c6c965be-a8ea-473d-89f4-9754f2675a60&amp;siteId=us-engadget&amp;pageId=1p-autolink&amp;featureId=text-link&amp;merchantName=Nature+Research&amp;custData=eyJzb3VyY2VOYW1lIjoiV2ViLURlc2t0b3AtVmVyaXpvbiIsImxhbmRpbmdVcmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy5uYXR1cmUuY29tL2FydGljbGVzL2Q0MTU4Ni0wMjMtMDM1NDMteiIsImNvbnRlbnRVdWlkIjoiZTRjM2VkNzUtNTlhZC00ZjA3LWJmMTItYmY1YWFkYTk0Njg4In0&amp;signature=AQAAAW_wzB_bCk9ALo9PFltPoblqY1PmhHipSW8Uqc5GSFgG&amp;gcReferrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nature.com%2Farticles%2Fd41586-023-03543-z\" class=\"rapid-with-clickid\" data-original-link=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/d41586-023-03543-z\"><em><ins>Nature<\/ins><\/em><\/a>, two of the 10 participants in the study suffered from a \u201ccardiovascular event\u201d that coincided with the infusion. Verve says one was not related to the treatment at all and the second was \u201cpotentially related to treatment due to proximity to dosing.\u201d The use of a gene-editing technology will always carry some risk because the edits <a data-i13n=\"cpos:8;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC7129066\/\"><ins>could occur elsewhere in the genome<\/ins><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Before a single infusion therapy for high cholesterol can reach consumers, the <a data-i13n=\"cpos:9;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.fda.gov\/media\/113768\/download\"><ins>FDA mandates<\/ins><\/a> that the treatment will need to be studied for up to 15 years. Verve recently received FDA clearance for an <a data-i13n=\"cpos:10;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/ir.vervetx.com\/news-releases\/news-release-details\/verve-therapeutics-announces-clearance-investigational-new-drug\"><ins>Investigational New Drug Application<\/ins><\/a> for VERVE-101, meaning that the company can begin to conduct trials in the US. The current trials in New Zealand and the United Kingdom will look for willing clinical trial participants to expand the study.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Engadget at https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/researchers-developed-a-gene-editing-technology-that-reduces-bad-cholesterol-170040293.html?src=rss&#013;<br \/>\n&#013;<br \/>\nSource: Engadget &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.engadget.com\/researchers-developed-a-gene-editing-technology-that-reduces-bad-cholesterol-170040293.html?src=rss\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Researchers developed a gene-editing technology that reduces &#8216;bad&#8217; cholesterol<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a trial run by Verve Therapeutics, a Cambridge\u2013based biotech company, researchers discovered that a single infusion of a gene-editing treatment called VERVE-101 was able to reduce cholesterol levels in patients. This treatment was tested in individuals with hereditary conditions &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/?p=1203668\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[99,110],"tags":[98],"class_list":["post-1203668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-engadget","category-unfiltered-rss","tag-engadget"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1203668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1203668\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1203668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1203668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.prime-wow.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1203668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}