A group of Chinese scientists will perform the world's first genetic editing trial on humans this month in an attempt to treat lung cancer.

The team of Doctors from West China Hospital are ready to use CRISPR technique to find a cure for lung cancer.  If the technique works, it will benefit many patients battling cancer worldwide. 

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A group of oncologist at the Sichuan University's West China Hospital in Chengdu will be the first in the world to inject patients with immune cells that have been modified using a specific gene-editing technique known as CRISPR-Cas9, according to an exclusive report by Nature

Gene-editing will be tested on 10-volunteer advanced lung cancer patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer and who have undergone chemotherapy, radiation therapy and other of treatments.

Lu You, director of the hospital's thoracic oncology department and the leader of the trial, said that his team was formed last year, and the trial was considered only after the hospital's review board gave the ethical approval for the trial on July 6.

The team plans to start the trials next month. The treatment periods is expected to last from eight weeks to three months.

"The whole trial could last over a year. We received a lot of applications and are now busy screening and drawing up our final selection list," Lu said.

The team of doctors plans to extract a type of immune cell, called T cells, from a patient's blood and then use the gene-editing technology to modify them in such a way that the edited cells knock out the gene that encodes the PD-1 protein.

The engineered cells will be multiplied in the lab before they are reintroduced into the patients. Once in the patient's body, the engineered cells are expected to kick start the T cells and launch an attack on the tumor cells.

"Treatment options are very limited," said Lu You, "This technique is of great promise in bringing benefits to patients, especially the cancer patients whom we treat every day. It is like building a cancer-fighting army outside the patient body."

TagsLung Cancer, Lung cancer drugs, CRISPR, CRISPR human genetic code