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1168 points jbredeche | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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colechristensen ◴[] No.43998409[source]
>KJ has made medical history. The baby, now 9 ½ months old, became the first patient of any age to have a custom gene-editing treatment, according to his doctors.

This is _not_ the first human to be treated with a treatment under the wide umbrella of gene therapy based on their own edited genes. There probably is a more narrow first here but the technical details get lost in journalism which is a shame.

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caycep ◴[] No.43998771[source]
I want to say, maybe it's better to say first human under proper IRB/regulatory compliance. Some rogue academic in China tried it a few years ago, if I recall, but with absolutely no oversight and he was pilloried. Also I don't think there is much details about what he actually did...

https://www.npr.org/2023/06/08/1178695152/china-scientist-he...

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1. zardo ◴[] No.43999061[source]
The major difference is that was a hereditary change. So those changes could now diffuse throughout the species over time. As I recall it was a change that reduces vulnerability to HIV infection.