Ethical considerations of gene editing and genetic selection

Advancements in genetic studies of mushrooms: a comprehensive review

Genetic studies in mushrooms, driven by innovations such as CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing and RNA interference, transform our understanding of these enigmatic fungi and their multifaceted roles in agriculture, medicine, and conservation. This comprehensive review explores the rationale and significance of genetic research in mushrooms, delving into the ethical, regulatory, and ecological dimensions of this field. CRISPR-Cas9 emerges as a game-changing technology, enabling precise genome editing, targeted gene knockouts, and pathway manipulation. RNA interference complements these efforts by downregulating genes for improved crop yield and enhanced pest and disease resistance. Genetic studies also contribute to the conservation of rare species and developing more robust mushroom strains, fostering sustainable cultivation practices. Moreover, they unlock the potential for discovering novel medicinal compounds, offering new horizons in pharmaceuticals and nutraceuticals. As emerging technologies and ethical considerations shape the future of mushroom research, these studies promise to revolutionize our relationship with these fungi, paving the way for a more sustainable and innovative world.

Regulatory insights into nanomedicine and gene vaccine innovation: Safety assessment, challenges, and regulatory perspectives

This analysis explores the principal regulatory concerns linked to nanomedicines and gene vaccines, including the complexities involved and the perspectives on how to navigate them. In the realm of nanomedicines, ensuring the safety of nanomaterials is paramount due to their unique characteristics and potential interactions with biological systems. Regulatory bodies are actively formulating guidelines and standards to assess the safety and risks associated with nanomedicine products, emphasizing the need for standardized characterization techniques to accurately gauge their safety and effectiveness. Regarding gene vaccines, regulatory frameworks must be tailored to address the distinct challenges posed by genetic interventions, necessitating special considerations in safety and efficacy evaluations, particularly concerning vector design, target specificity, and long-term patient monitoring. Ethical concerns such as patient autonomy, informed consent, and privacy also demand careful attention, alongside the intricate matter of intellectual property rights, which must be balanced against the imperative of ensuring widespread access to these life-saving treatments. Collaborative efforts among regulatory bodies, researchers, patent offices, and the private sector are essential to tackle these challenges effectively, with international cooperation being especially crucial given the global scope of nanomedicine and genetic vaccine development. Striking the right balance between safeguarding intellectual properties and promoting public health is vital for fostering innovation and ensuring equitable access to these ground-breaking technologies, underscoring the significance of addressing these regulatory hurdles to fully harness the potential benefits of nanomedicine and gene vaccines for enhancing healthcare outcomes on a global scale. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: Several biomaterials are being proposed for the development of nanovaccines, from polymeric micelles, PLGA-/PEI-/PLL-nanoparticles, solid lipid nananoparticles, cationic lipoplexes, liposomes, hybrid materials, dendrimers, carbon nanotubes, hydrogels, to quantum dots. Lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) have gained tremendous attention since the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of Pfizer and Moderna's COVID-19 vaccines, raising public awareness to the regulatory challenges associated with nanomedicines and genetic vaccines. This review provides insights into the current perspectives and potential strategies for addressing these issues, including clinical trials. By navigating these regulatory landscapes effectively, we can unlock the full potential of nanomedicine and genetic vaccines using a range of promising biomaterials towards improving healthcare outcomes worldwide.

Breaking genetic shackles: The advance of base editing in genetic disorder treatment

The rapid evolution of gene editing technology has markedly improved the outlook for treating genetic diseases. Base editing, recognized as an exceptionally precise genetic modification tool, is emerging as a focus in the realm of genetic disease therapy. We provide a comprehensive overview of the fundamental principles and delivery methods of cytosine base editors (CBE), adenine base editors (ABE), and RNA base editors, with a particular focus on their applications and recent research advances in the treatment of genetic diseases. We have also explored the potential challenges faced by base editing technology in treatment, including aspects such as targeting specificity, safety, and efficacy, and have enumerated a series of possible solutions to propel the clinical translation of base editing technology. In conclusion, this article not only underscores the present state of base editing technology but also envisions its tremendous potential in the future, providing a novel perspective on the treatment of genetic diseases. It underscores the vast potential of base editing technology in the realm of genetic medicine, providing support for the progression of gene medicine and the development of innovative approaches to genetic disease therapy.

Survey of attitude to human genome modification in Nigeria

Gene editing and mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) are biotechnologies used to modify the host nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, respectively. Gene editing is the modification of a region of the host genome using site-specific nucleases, in particular the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-Cas system. Heritable and somatic genome editing (HGE and SGE) are used in gene therapy. MRT is a technique used to substitute the defective mitochondria in the recipient embryo with a female donor healthy mitochondrion in order to prevent the inheritance of mothers' defective mitochondria resulting in the change of mitochondria of the entire generation to come. To evaluate the perception of the Nigerian citizens on human genome modification, two survey forms were created and distributed in-person and majorly online. There was a total of 268 responses, 188 from the public and 80 from health workers and bio-scientists. The results showed poor knowledge about gene editing and MRT by the Nigerian public, but its use to prevent and cure inherited diseases was supported. Morality and religion have great influence on the attitude of Nigerians towards genome modification, but the influence of religion and morality is not unequivocal. Multiple regression analysis of Nigerian public responses shows that gender (females), age (19-30 years), monthly income (NGN 0 to 30,000), and level of education (tertiary) are significantly associated with approval of human genome editing, but the survey of health workers and bio-scientists shows no significant association except for females who approve and Muslims who disapprove of human genome editing.

Advances in Genetic Editing of the Human Embryo

BACKGROUND

Genetic engineering has allowed a major development of research in this field, with specialists attempting to edit the human genome, after the successful editing of the genomes of plants and animals. However, human gene editing technologies are at the center of ethical debates around the world.

AREAS OF UNCERTAINTY

Ethical concerns about genetic editing of the human embryo raise several issues that can be viewed through the prism of optimism and reluctance leading to a number of recommendations regarding the acceptance of what may soon become a reality.

DATA SOURCES

A literature search was conducted through PubMed, MEDLINE, Plus, Scopus, and Web of Science (2015-2022) using combinations of keywords, including: human genome or gene editing plus ethics.

ETHICS AND THERAPEUTIC ADVANCES

Gene therapy is seen by researchers as a way to solve congenital diseases, multifactorial diseases in general or specific diseases such as cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, or can increase resistance to HIV infection. Genome editing technologies, germline gene editing, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats gene editing technology, technologies such as zinc finger nucleases are not only advanced gene therapies that require solving technical problems, but also techniques that require complex and complete analysis of ethical problems. Genetic engineering raises many ethical concerns such as: safety concerns especially the risk of off-target effects; autonomy of the individual-with the limitation of the future generations to consent for an intervention over their genome; social justice-keeping in mind the costs of the procedures and their availability to the general population. Discussions can go further from questions such as "How can we do this?" to questions such as "Should we do this?" or "Is society ready to accept this technology and is it able to manage it rationally?"

CONCLUSIONS

The ethics of biomedical research should be based on global dialogue, on the involvement of experts and the public, to achieve a broad social consensus. The fundamental review of the ethics of genetics is a desire and an opportunity of the current period.

Comparison of public discussions of gene editing on social media between the United States and China

The world’s first gene-edited babies event has stirred controversy on social media over the use of gene editing technology. Understanding public discussions about this controversy will provide important insights about opinions of science and facilitate informed policy decisions. This study compares public discussion topics about gene editing on Twitter and Weibo, as wel asthe evolution of these topics over four months. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) was used to generate topics for 11,244 Weibo posts and 57,525 tweets from September 25, 2018, to January 25, 2019. Results showed a difference between the topics on Twitter versus Weibo: there were more nuanced discussions on Twitter, and the discussed topics between platforms focused on different areas. Temporal analysis showed that most discussions took place around gene-edited events. Based on our findings, suggestions were provided for policymakers and science communication practitioners to develop more effective communication strategies toward audiences in China and the U.S.

Genome Editing in Medicine: Tools and Challenges

Studies which seek fundamental, thorough knowledge of biological processes, and continuous advancement in natural sciences and biotechnology enable the establishment of molecular strategies and tools to treat disorders caused by genetic mutations. Over the years biological therapy evolved from using stem cells and viral vectors to RNA therapy and testing different genome editing tools as promising gene therapy agents. These genome editing technologies (Zinc finger nucleases, TAL effector nucleases), specifically CRISPR-Cas system, revolutionized the field of genetic engineering and is widely applied to create cell and animal models for various hereditary, infectious human diseases and cancer, to analyze and understand the molecular and cellular base of pathogenesis, to find potential drug/treatment targets, to eliminate pathogenic DNA changes in various medical conditions and to create future “precise medication”. Although different concerning factors, such as precise system delivery to the target cells, efficacy and accuracy of editing process, different approaches of making the DNA changes as well as worrying bioethical issues remain, the importance of genome editing technologies in medicine is undeniable. The future of innovative genome editing approach and strategies to treat diseases is complicated but interesting and exciting at once for all related parties – researchers, clinicians, and patients.

The highly complex issue of conscientious objection to abortion: can the recent European Court of Human Rights ruling Grimmark v. Sweden redefine the notions of care before freedom of conscience?

PURPOSE

The article aims to elaborate on two recent European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) decisions which have rejected, on grounds of non-admissibility, the appeals by two Swedish midwives who refused to carry out abortion-related services, basing their refusal on conscientious objection, and to expound upon the legal and ethical underpinnings and core standards applied to the framing process of such a ECtHR decision.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

By drawing upon relevant recommendations from international institutions, the authors have aimed to assess how the ECtHR rationale could affect the balance between CO and patient rights; searches have been conducted up until December 2020.

RESULTS

In both decisions the European Court has asserted that the right to exercise conscientious objection must give way to the protection of the right to health of women seeking to have an abortion.

CONCLUSIONS

ECtHR judges concluded that the failure to provide for a right to conscientious objection does not constitute, in fact, a violation of the more general right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, if provided for by a state law to protect the right to health. The legal ethical and social ramifications of such a decision are of enormous magnitude.

Targeted intracellular degradation of SARS-CoV-2 via computationally optimized peptide fusions

The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, has elicited a global health crisis of catastrophic proportions. With only a few vaccines approved for early or limited use, there is a critical need for effective antiviral strategies. In this study, we report a unique antiviral platform, through computational design of ACE2-derived peptides which both target the viral spike protein receptor binding domain (RBD) and recruit E3 ubiquitin ligases for subsequent intracellular degradation of SARS-CoV-2 in the proteasome. Our engineered peptide fusions demonstrate robust RBD degradation capabilities in human cells and are capable of inhibiting infection-competent viral production, thus prompting their further experimental characterization and therapeutic development.