New gene-editing technology could help treat Huntington's disease, premature aging, study says

From Fox News.com (Aug. 28):

A new genetic editing tool could give hope to people who suffer from Huntington’s disease and progeria, which causes premature aging, a study says.

Published in Cell Research, the study says researchers at Salk Institute have created a new tool, known as SATI, that enables them to edit the mouse genome and target a large swath of genetic mutations and cell types.

“This study has shown that SATI is a powerful tool for genome editing,” said Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a professor in Salk’s Gene Expression Laboratory and the study's lead author, in a statement. “It could prove instrumental in developing effective strategies for target-gene replacement of many different types of mutations, and opens the door for using genome-editing tools to possibly cure a broad range of genetic diseases.”

Instead of replacing the trouble genes entirely, the researchers used SATI to put a good copy of one of the genes into a certain part of the mouse's DNA. The gene is later inserted into the genome and essentially corrects the mutation without replacing the entire gene. [read more]

Hope it does help.

Another gene-editing technology article:

Report: Human Sperm Gene Editing Aims to Alter Generations