New Age of Genome Editing Could Lead to Cure for Sickle Cell Anemia

May 15, 2015

(Medical Xpress) – UNSW Australia researchers have shown that changing just a single letter of the DNA of human red blood cells in the laboratory increases their production of oxygen-carrying haemoglobin – a world-first advance that could lead to a cure for sickle cell anaemia and other blood disorders. The new genome editing technique, in which a beneficial, naturally-occurring genetic mutation is introduced into cells, works by switching on a sleeping gene that is active in the womb but turned off in most people after birth.