CRISPR used to 'reprogram' cancer cells into healthy muscle in the lab

Scientists have transformed cancer cells into healthy muscle tissue in the lab using CRISPR gene-editing technology — and they hope new cancer treatments can be built on the back of this experiment. In a study published Aug. 28 in the journal PNAS, researchers found that disabling a particular protein complex in cells of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) — a rare cancer in skeletal muscle tissue that mainly affects children under age 10 — in the laboratory causes the tumor cells to turn into healthy muscle cells.

Although the research is still in its early days, this process of "resetting" cancer cells into healthy cells, broadly known as differentiation therapy, has already been tested in other types of cancer, such as bone and blood cancer. Four drugs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the latter disease and generally work by inhibiting a specific protein in the cancer cells.

The protein complex pinpointed in the new research could serve as a target for such a therapy, the study authors wrote, and with further development, it could be a promising new treatment option for patients with RMS, which is normally treated with surgery, radiation and chemotherapy.

"This technology can allow you to take any cancer and go hunting for how to cause it to differentiate," or cause it to stop multiplying uncontrollably and turn into normal, noncancerous cells, Christopher Vakoc, lead author and professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, said in a statement. "This might be a key step toward making differentiation therapy more accessible."

https://www.livescience.com/health/cancer/crispr-used-to-reprogram-cancer-cells-into-healthy-muscle-in-the-lab