CRISPR-edited islet cells let man make insulin
A 42-year-old man with type 1 diabetes got a transplant of donor islet cells that were gene-edited using CRISPR, letting him make his own insulin for the first time in decades.
What's wild? He didn't need any immune-suppressing meds to stop his body from attacking the new cells—a first for humans.
The study just dropped in The New England Journal of Medicine this year.
How the researchers pulled it off
Scientists tweaked three genes in the donor cells so the patient's immune system wouldn't see them as a threat.
These edited cells were injected into his forearm muscle and kept making insulin for at least 12 weeks.
Normally, people who get islet cell transplants have to take strong meds forever to avoid rejection, but this method could mean safer, longer-lasting treatments for diabetes—and maybe even other organ transplants down the line.