Base Editing Clears Girl's Incurable Cancer

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Image copyright: Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children

The Facts

  • Alyssa, a 13-year-old girl from Leicester, England, who was diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia last year, has been cleared of her incurable cancer after undergoing a base editing cell therapy at London's Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children.

  • According to her doctors, the teenager had an aggressive form of cancer where her T-cells — which are supposed to protect a person by seeking out and destroying defective cells — had become dangerous to the healthy parts of her body.

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The Spin

Narrative A

The outcome of this revolutionary treatment is remarkable, and makes base editing a strong contender in the development of innovative cell and gene therapies. With trials for curing single-cell diseases already underway, the next step is for the biomedical community to develop a versatile, cost-effective program to make base editing cures a reality for millions of patients worldwide.

New York Times

Narrative B

Though base editing might have saved Alyssa's life, it's too early to guess her prognosis. Furthermore, considering that the treatment can permanently change a patient's genetic code, every effort must be made to identify and address ethical issues that may arise with its use, such as the privacy and confidentiality of genomic data.

WHO

Metaculus Prediction