A new strategy to cure disease in a single day, and forever: epigenetic silencing
By Manuel Ansede,
El País
| 03. 01. 2024
A team of Italian researchers has reached a major scientific milestone, heralding a revolution in the field of medicine. The scientists have succeeded in silencing a gene associated with high cholesterol levels, without the need to modify DNA. In the experiment, which was conducted on mice, the effects of the gene silencing persisted for the entire year that the experiment lasted — a period equivalent to half an average human life. These results suggest that it may be possible to solve chronic health problems, permanently, and in a single day of treatment. The study was published this Wednesday in the journal Nature, a leading reference in the world of science.
DNA is like a book, with some 3 billion chemical letters, that provides instructions for the functioning of every cell. This immense text is divided into pages — the genes — which contain specific recipes for making the proteins necessary for life: the collagen in cartilage, the hemoglobin in blood, the antibodies that fight pathogens. One of these genes, PCSK9, contains guidelines for producing a protein associated with...
Related Articles
By Elizabeth Dwoskin and Zoeann Murphy, The Washington Post | 10.01.2025
MEXICO CITY — When she walked into an IVF clinic in June, Alin Quintana knew it would be the last time she would try to conceive a child. She had prepared herself spiritually and mentally for the visit: She had traveled to a nearby...
By Rob Stein, NPR | 09.30.2025
Scientists have created human eggs containing genes from adult skin cells, a step that someday could help women who are infertile or gay couples have babies with their own genes but would also raise difficult ethical, social and legal issues...
By Jessica Mouzo, El País | 10.03.2025
DNA is the molecule of life: this double-helix structure, present in every cell in the body and organized into fragments called genes, stores the instructions for making organisms function. It is a highly precise biological machine, but sometimes it breaks...
GeneWatch UK has prepared a briefing on the genetic modification of nature for the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Congress in October 2025
The upcoming Congress claims to be “where the world comes together to set priorities and drive conservation and sustainable development action.” A major concern for those on the outside is that the Congress may advance plans to develop and encourage the use of synthetic biology in nature conservation. This could at first glance sound like...