CRISPR-Based Gene Therapies: From Preclinical to Clinical Treatments.

In recent years, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPRs) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) protein have emerged as a revolutionary gene editing tool to treat inherited disorders affecting different organ systems, such as blood and muscles. Both hematological and neuromuscular genetic disorders benefit from genome editing approaches but face different challenges in their clinical translation. The ability of CRISPR/Cas9 technologies to modify hematopoietic stem cells ex vivo has greatly accelerated the development of genetic therapies for blood disorders.

Correction of β-thalassemia by CRISPR/Cas9 editing of the α-globin locus in human hematopoietic stem cells.

β-thalassemias (β-thal) are a group of blood disorders caused by mutations in the β-globin gene (HBB) cluster. β-globin associates with α-globin to form adult hemoglobin (HbA, α2β2), the main oxygen-carrier in erythrocytes. When β-globin chains are absent or limiting, free α-globins precipitate and damage cell membranes, causing hemolysis and ineffective erythropoiesis.

Author Correction: Ex vivo editing of human hematopoietic stem cells for erythroid expression of therapeutic proteins.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Ex vivo editing of human hematopoietic stem cells for erythroid expression of therapeutic proteins.

Targeted genome editing has a great therapeutic potential to treat disorders that require protein replacement therapy. To develop a platform independent of specific patient mutations, therapeutic transgenes can be inserted in a safe and highly transcribed locus to maximize protein expression. Here, we describe an ex vivo editing approach to achieve efficient gene targeting in human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) and robust expression of clinically relevant proteins by the erythroid lineage.

[Newborn consultations in paediatric emergency departments].

More and more newborns are being taken to paediatric emergency departments in France. A study was carried out between 2013 and 2015 to identify the reasons for non-emergency consultations, and to analyse the risk factors. The most common diagnoses were: rhinitis, gastro-oesophageal reflux and colic.