http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2511778Anew mRNA technique: peoples DNA was changed on the fly and now they wont produce risky cholesterolThe study was extremely small — only 15 patients with already severe disease (several different arterial diseases) — and was meant to test the safety of a new medication delivered by CRISPR-Cas9, a biological sort of scissor which cuts a targeted gene to modify or turn it on or off. The patients were already on elevetad risk of dying and was volunteeredPreliminary results, however, showed nearly a 50% reduction in low-density lipoprotein, or LDL, the "bad" cholesterol which plays a major role in heart disease — the No.1 killer of adults in the United States and worldwide according to doctors.The study, which will be presented Saturday at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions in New Orleans, >also found an average 33% reduction in triglycerides, a different type of fat in the blood that is THOUGHT TO BE also linked to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease."We hope this is a permanent solution, where younger people with severe disease can undergo a 'one and done' gene therapy and have reduced LDL and triglycerides for the rest of their lives," said senior study author Dr. Steven Nissen, chief academic officer of the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular & Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic in Ohio.... Today, cardiologists want people with existing heart disease or those born with a predisposition for hard-to-control cholesterol to lower their LDL well below 100, which is the average in the US, said Dr. Pradeep Natarajan, director of preventive cardiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston...
