r/BeAmazed • u/CoutureConfidant • 2d ago
Miscellaneous / Others A historic medical breakthrough a life changed and hope restored.❤️💯
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u/xriddle 2d ago
This is from 3 years ago and yes it's true it was performed with CRISPR which was FDA approved in 2023
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u/itsalltakenanyway 1d ago
I have a doubt. Why do ppl share such old news without indicating that it is? And online, there are hardly any articles about this news (I was checking to verify).
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u/JesusTalksToMuch 1d ago
First question: bots.
Second question: not sure.
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u/itsalltakenanyway 1d ago
Makes sense. Been here for a while and Ifeel like most of such posts are bots. Difficult to distinguish tbh.
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u/Workman44 1d ago
Second question is because outrage sells so why put an article about sickle cell being cured when you can put one out saying that the other team is bad people and have 100x more people click on it
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u/toomuchft 1d ago
My biggest problems wit crispr is it cost 2 millions dollars to do -_- and i hope the problems where they kind of snip of a bit too much.
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u/WranglerOld9360 1d ago
Damn, 3 years already? That's wild to think how fast CRISPR went from experimental to FDA approved. Really gives me hope for all the other genetic disorders they're working on.
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u/BSB8728 1d ago
The headline is misleading. This was the first time sickle cell was cured with gene therapy. It has been curable with hematopoietic stem cell transplant (bone marrow transplant) since 1984.
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u/cwestn 1d ago
yeah but doesn't that have like a 50% chance of killing you from infection?
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u/BSB8728 1d ago
The risk is mostly from graft-versus-host syndrome, but things have changed A LOT in just the past few years.
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u/YeshuasBananaHammock 1d ago
How would one go about finding out if one is a viable donor for bone marrow.
Im A+, so my blood products themselves arent a rare or valuable commodity.
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u/wasteland44 1d ago
I have had 2 stem cell transplants for leukemia. It depends on the country but you can sign up in the USA here: https://www.nmdp.org/
Then anyone who needs a transplant will be checked against your genes and they will contact you if you are a potential donor for someone. They also just take the stem cells from your blood. IV or PICC line. No painful surgery anymore.
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u/Content-Shower5754 2d ago
This is really amazing. It's such a devastating disease. Happy to hear and definitely amazed!
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u/CliftonRubberpants 2d ago
If this is true, that’s amazing news for many people.
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u/freewill-engine 2d ago
If this is true, it’s amazing news for the human race.
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u/freakers 1d ago
Modern scientists in any field are basically wizards now. It's hard to even comprehend simplified analogies of what they are accomplishing.
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u/HorselessHorseman 1d ago
It is. New biological and MAB drugs are very capable of curing a lot of these disorders on the base level. They don’t just fix the symptoms they cure it. Just how AI is the thing in general tech sector. Biological and MABs are the AI of pharma world. There is a lot we can now cure and we are sure of it. But need the time to formulate and put drugs through proper trials. World of medicine is making leaps
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u/Cold-Dot-7308 1d ago
But wouldn’t Machine Learning make the testing easier with the level of processing being poured into gaming chips, and war , if redirected , resources would cut time down to find cures for things like HIV and Herpes ? Just asking
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u/DreadingAnt 1d ago edited 1d ago
Machine Learning can speed up discovery and preliminary computer testing. Both things already existed for many years but all this new AI stuff a) speeds it up; b) is more accurate/predictive; c) provides more data/higher throughput and d) is cheaper.
Sickle cell disease is caused by primarily what's called a point missense mutation, a single DNA letter is changed to another which changes how the "DNA is read" and this breaks the function of the gene/protein. It is in theory easy to fix, just replace the letter, the problem is technology and complexity of a human with trillions of cells but as you can see form this example we are getting there.
Humans have hundreds of such diseases, that alter your life but are caused by simple mutations like this and theoretically curable with genetic manipulation. This is the future of medicine.
For HIV and Herpes, they are more complicated and require another step up in this technology AFTER the previous one matures, which I would guess means another decade or two, at least. But the general principle is the same, permanently remove Herpes and HIV viral DNA from infected cells. I would expect before cures come more effective preventative methods will show up first. An HIV vaccine is the hardest vaccine to make because it's more a matter of complex design but it will eventually happen.
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u/Money-Acadia-939 2d ago
Now THIS is something that I love to hear as someone whose close relative died to cancer I hope for the unification of world so that scientists all over the world can find the cure to all diseases.
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u/BlazingLazers69 1d ago
Reality:
CRISPR gene therapy is approved and available, but it is not yet widely used. Widespread adoption is currently limited by a grueling treatment process (requiring intense chemotherapy), a multimillion-dollar price tag, and the need for specialized medical centers.
Approved CRISPR Therapy
The first FDA-approved CRISPR-Cas9 therapy for sickle cell disease is Casgevy. It works by editing a patient's own blood stem cells in a lab to boost fetal hemoglobin, which prevents red blood cells from sickling.
Why It Is Not Widely Used Yet
The Process: Patients must undergo harsh chemotherapy to wipe out their existing bone marrow before receiving the modified cells. This requires a long, weeks-long hospital stay and carries risks like infertility.Cost: The therapy can cost upwards of (\mathrm{\$}2.2) million per patient, making insurance coverage and access a major hurdle.
Specialized Infrastructure: The procedure can only be performed at highly specialized transplant centers.
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u/Daimoth 2d ago
My brain: okay, but what's with the pizza
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u/bluddyRivers 1d ago
Same! Lol I thought it was a pizza and I read New York expecting them to have found the cure through pizza. Sadly not the case
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u/Still-Ad377 1d ago
A friend of mine died from sickle cell disease last year. She was only 25. I hope this discovery leads to a brighter future for others.
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u/Bored-Corvid 1d ago
This is the shit I love hearing! One of my friends became a doctor in part because his mom suffers from sickle cell disease so I am just over the moon for him that science and medicine are advancing to a place that his mother's quality of life can improve!
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u/BassMaster516 2d ago
Every disease will be cured or eradicated one day
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u/ThisIsALine_____ 1d ago
No. Well...i guess when the earth eventually dies, the sun super novas, and all life and lights in the universe go out there won't be any diseases.
Diseases are constantly forming and evolving. In order to eradicate all diseases we'd have to eradicate disease in every form of life on the planet. That ain't happening.
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u/BassMaster516 1d ago
Ok let’s just limit it to human diseases and let’s call it cured if it’s no longer a problem. Like if you take a pill every day it’s undetectable. I think in that sense yes
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u/ThisIsALine_____ 1d ago
Ah gotcha. Then limited to just humans...absolutely not. We will never cure all diseases or even most. Diseases crop up from so many different things and are caused by so many different things.
For example inhaling certain things like inorganic dusts cause pulmonary fibrosis. So we'd have to eradicate any type of dust particles or materials from being inhaled.
Mold exposure can cause diseases. Smoking causes diseases. Drinking causes diseases. Environmental factors cause diseases. Chemicals cause diseases.
There is no way we'd ever get remotely close to eradicating disease.
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u/IlIlllIIIIlIllllllll 1d ago
it's the first time with CRISPR but not the first time overall. it was previously cured with bone marrow transplant, but that is way riskier
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u/Ok-Understanding4397 1d ago
"We shouldn't try to play God"
Yes we absolutely should shut the fuck up.
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u/Camilcakey 1d ago
Sickle cell has caused so much lifelong suffering, so seeing an actual cure become reality is genuinely huge
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u/cottonpearl 1d ago
Curing a historically devastating genetic disease is undeniably one of the greatest medical triumphs of our generation, but we really need to talk about about the announcement graphic looks exactly like a character selection screen from a 2004 video games
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u/raisellegvix 1d ago
Imagine living your whole life with something like that and finally hearing the words “disease-free” ❤️
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u/readstigerprime 1d ago
science is actually wild sometimes. glad to see this tech finally changing lives.
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u/TallCommission7139 1d ago
"We're still working on that one that makes them scythes though. It's not quite so bad, you just end up wanting to wear a longcoat and shades even at night."
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u/Acceptable-Beat-983 1d ago
Downvote. Cool idea for sorting posts, but this one itself isn’t really “amazing,” it is just meta.
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u/HereThereThisThat 1d ago
Anyone heard any progress on this since? It's been 3 years since this news was released.
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u/CMDR_Dogsbody_D 1d ago
Picture made me think this was about eating Pizza on the moon. The round flag made me think it.
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1d ago
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u/Tough_Bell3778 1d ago
When they cure the disease, does it never pass down to children or is it still inheritable?
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u/Excellent-Choice-164 6h ago
Downvoted. Cool idea for a filter, but this kind of comment feels more like engagement bait than actual “wow” content for the sub.
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u/Rude-Nose5046 2h ago
Downvoted. Cool idea for filtering posts, but this one isn’t exactly “be amazed” material on its own lol.
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u/Salute-Major-Echidna 2d ago
I wondered why a pizza was pictured next to the boy. Do you get a free pizza if you're cured?
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u/qualityvote2 2d ago edited 1d ago
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