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Can CRISPR resolve many chronic diseases, like ITP ?

  • Hal9000
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  • Give me all your platelets and nobody gets hurt
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5 years 11 months ago #66112 by Hal9000
Mononucleosis, aka EBV, like other Herpes viruses is life long. These viruses are known to hitch a ride on platelets to spread and this behavior leads to ITP.
"Platelets and Infection – An Emerging Role of Platelets in Viral Infection"
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4270245/
Is it a coincidence that chronic ITP is only chronic because Herpes viruses cannot be eradicated from the body?

If one day these viruses can be eradicated, what are the implications? No more chronic ITP?
"CRISPR Puts Up a Fight Against Persistent Herpesviruses: A Short Animation"
blogs.plos.org/speakingofmedicine/2016/08/04/crispr-puts-up-a-fight-against-persistent-herpesviruses-a-short-animation/

The full text article.
"CRISPR/Cas9-Mediated Genome Editing of Herpesviruses Limits Productive and Latent Infections"
journals.plos.org/plospathogens/article?id=10.1371/journal.ppat.1005701

On a slightly different note, about the article on Platelets and Infection. Besides the Herpes viruses, the Influenza virus is implicated too. But the Flu virus CAN be eradicated from the body. So are 'spontaneous' ITP remissions (row 2 on my ITP table) only because those folks had ITP triggered by the Flu? Once the Flu virus went away, so did the ITP, once the immune system settled down?

Further. As we know, children's immune system must learn how to destroy lots of invaders as we grow up. Flu viruses are always changing. As new strains come along, some are brand new to a child - offering a big challenge to the immune system. What if most cases (80%) of ITP in children can be attributed to the Flu? Is that the reason why most cases of ITP in children self resolve?

Even further. Is it possible that this study, which seems to accurately predict acute versus chronic ITP doing nothing more than identifying those children who had ITP triggered by the Flu (and are thus row 2 in my table)?
"Expression Differences Distinguish Pediatric Acute and Chronic ITP Using RNA Sequencing"
www.bloodjournal.org/content/132/Suppl_1/127?sso-checked=true

Cheers to no more chronic ITP.
The following user(s) said Thank You: delta809

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  • karenr
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  • Diagnosed in 2000, at 59, after being on moderately high doses of NSAIDs for arthritis. Splenectomy and rituxan both failed (2004). Did well on prednisone till summer 2018--then terrible reactions. Promacta since 11-19.
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5 years 11 months ago #66141 by karenr
I note that this article was published in June of 2016. Do you know if there has been response to it?

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  • Hal9000
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  • Give me all your platelets and nobody gets hurt
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5 years 11 months ago - 5 years 11 months ago #66142 by Hal9000
I searched around a bit for something more recent on leveraging CRISPR for virus eradication but didn't find anything.

In April of 2018 60 Minutes TV show did a story on CRISPR technology. The video describes some interesting example CRISPR applications.
"CRISPR: The gene-editing tool revolutionizing biomedical research"
www.cbs.com/shows/60_minutes/video/dIdyXroziO4KUSRu_98VLALNMxtt7cXg/crispr-the-gene-editing-tool-revolutionizing-biomedical-research/

The scientist interviewed, who has one of the primary patents on CRISPR, says some 2200 labs in 61 countries are using the technology for research. That's A LOT of people working on the technology.

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2 years 11 months ago - 2 years 11 months ago #72280 by delta809
Interesting stuff. I couldn’t find any recent information about CRISPR versus EBV, but found this fairly new method to block its production:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4822607/

Spironolactone
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spironolactone
Although there are some possible bad side effects.

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