Throughout its lifetime, the human body must continually replace its blood cells as they circulate and are recycled. Every second, hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) in our bone marrow produce two million new blood cells. Humans are born with very few HSPCs that replenish themselves through self-renewal. HSPCs can be transplanted from a donor to a sick patient to treat blood cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma.
Recently, scientists have devised a way to edit the DNA of HSPCs as a treatment for various diseases associated with these cells. At the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (Fred Hutch), researchers have developed a unique system that uses gold nanoparticles loaded with nucleases to edit HSPCs. The technique shows promise for the treatment of blood diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and hemoglobinopathies such as sickle cell disease...
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