Many of the crucial proteins that enable the formation, trafficking, and circulation of so-called bad cholesterol are synthesized in the liver. Recall the gene-editing technologies used by He Jiankui to alter genes in human embryos—in essence, rewriting the genetic script of human cells. Neither Sek nor Verve has any interest or desire to change genes in human embryos; rather, they hope to use gene-editing technologies to inactivate the genes that encode for these cholesterol-related proteins in human liver cells—and that, too, without removing the liver from the body. Scientists at Verve have
Many of the crucial proteins that enable the formation, trafficking, and circulation of so-called bad cholesterol are synthesized in the liver. Recall the gene-editing technologies used by He Jiankui to alter genes in human embryos—in essence, rewriting the genetic script of human cells. Neither Sek nor Verve has any interest or desire to change genes in human embryos; rather, they hope to use gene-editing technologies to inactivate the genes that encode for these cholesterol-related proteins in human liver cells—and that, too, without removing the liver from the body. Scientists at Verve have devised ways to insert catheters into the arteries leading to the liver. (The dexterity that Sek learned from decades of practice in cardiology helped.) These catheters will deliver gene-editing enzymes, loaded inside tiny nanoparticles, to the organ. Once these particles off-load their cargos inside the liver cells, the gene-editing enzymes will change the scripts of genes that aid and abet cholesterol metabolism, thereby drastically decreasing the amount of circulating cholesterol in the blood—in essence, activating the LDL metabolizing pathways. It’s a one-and-done infusion. Once the genes have been altered, they are altered for life. If successful, Verve’s gene therapy would transform you into a human with permanently lowered cholesterol level, permanently protected from coronary artery disease, permanently safe from myocardial infarction. It would be the ultimate feat of cellula...
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That seems like it's courting unforseen consequences. The "so-called bad cholesterol" (to literally quote the text) is there for a reason and only pathological under certain artificially generated modern circumstances. A gene therapy to permanently rid a body it feels like looking at a not inconsiderable mess but deciding it should be cleaned up with a death star.
