Ethics and regulatory considerations for the clinical translation of somatic cell human epigenetic editing

Nikolajs Zeps; Tamra Lysaght; Ruth Chadwick; Alexandre Erler; Roger Foo; Simona Giordano; Poh San Lai; G Owen Schaefer; Vicki Xafis; Wei Leong Chew; Jeremy Sugarman

doi:10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.06.004

Ethics and regulatory considerations for the clinical translation of somatic cell human epigenetic editing

Stem Cell Reports. 2021 Jul 13;16(7):1652-1655. doi: 10.1016/j.stemcr.2021.06.004. Epub 2021 Jul 1.

Authors

Nikolajs Zeps¹, Tamra Lysaght², Ruth Chadwick³, Alexandre Erler⁴, Roger Foo⁵, Simona Giordano⁶, Poh San Lai⁷, G Owen Schaefer⁸, Vicki Xafis⁸, Wei Leong Chew⁹, Jeremy Sugarman¹⁰

Affiliations

¹ Eastern Health Clinical School, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
² Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore. Electronic address: tlysaght@nus.edu.sg.
³ School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK.
⁴ CUHK Centre for Bioethics, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China; Philosophy Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore; Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore.
⁶ School of Law, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK.
⁷ Department of Paediatrics, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
⁸ Centre for Biomedical Ethics, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
⁹ Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore.
¹⁰ Berman Institute of Bioethics, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MA, USA.

Abstract

Altering the human epigenome with gene-editing technology in attempt to treat a variety of diseases and conditions seems scientifically feasible. We explore some of the ethical and regulatory issues related to the clinical translation of human epigenetic editing arguing that such approaches should be considered akin to somatic therapies.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Epigenomics*
Gene Editing / ethics*
Gene Editing / legislation & jurisprudence*
Germ Cells / metabolism
Humans
Phenotype
Translational Research, Biomedical / ethics*
Translational Research, Biomedical / legislation & jurisprudence*