Findings in title quoted from the linked summary by Manuel Ansede, 16 Jan. 2023, EL PAÍS.

Excerpt:

>The gene editing techniques that have revolutionized medicine since 2016 could also be used to treat common heart diseases, the number one cause of death in humans, according to a study published recently by one of the world’s leading scientists, Eric Olson, from the US.

>His team was able to modify two letters – or bases – of the approximately 3 billion that make up the DNA of a mouse. This change was enough to silence a protein linked to multiple cardiovascular problems.

>Olson is cautious, but highlights the potential advantages of this new strategy: since heart cells last a lifetime, it is only a matter of making the change once.

>Olson, from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, talked about his research to EL PAÍS via videoconference from Dallas, Texas, accompanied by a Spanish colleague from his laboratory, biologist Xurde Menéndez Caravia, co-author of the new study, who explained that the results of the first proof of concept are very promising.

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>The technique appears to be safe in mice; now, what comes next is to explore the possible long-term effects.

>The researchers modified the recipe for a protein called CaMKII delta, whose hyperactivation causes various cardiovascular problems such as arrhythmias, heart failure or damage to the heart muscle after a myocardial infarction.

>By changing two letters in the recipe, the resulting protein is not hyperactivated. Olson’s team used this technique in mice with cardiac damage after a heart attack, a phenomenon known as ischemia-reperfusion injury. The organs of the rodents recovered their function after the genetic editing of their cells.

>“As a therapy aimed at large population groups, it would be a revolution. We are talking about myocardial infarctions: potentially millions of people could be treated with this technique,” says Menéndez Caravia.

Lebek S., et al. Ablation of CaMKIIδ oxidation by CRISPR-Cas9 base editing as a therapy for cardiac disease. Science (2023). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.ade1105