In a hospital west of Shanghai, Wu Shixiu since March has been trying to treat cancer patients using a promising new gene-editing tool.<\/p>\n
U.S. scientists helped devise the tool, known as Crispr-Cas9, which has captured global attention since a 2012 report said it can be used to edit DNA. Doctors haven\u2019t been allowed to use it in human trials in America. That isn\u2019t the case for Dr. Wu and others in China.<\/p>\n
In a quirk of the globalized technology arena, Dr. Wu can forge ahead with the tool because he faces few regulatory hurdles to testing it on humans. His hospital\u2019s review board took just an afternoon to sign off on his trial. He didn\u2019t need national regulators\u2019 approval and has few reporting requirements.<\/p>\n
Dr. Wu\u2019s team at Hangzhou Cancer Hospital has been drawing blood from esophageal-cancer patients, shipping it by high-speed rail to a lab that modifies disease-fighting cells using Crispr-Cas9 by deleting a gene that interferes with the immune system\u2019s ability to fight cancer. His team then infuses the cells back into the patients, hoping the reprogrammed DNA will destroy the disease.<\/p>\n
In contrast, what\u2019s expected to be the first human Crispr trial outside China has yet to begin…. <\/p>\n