A U.S.–based company, InBio, has recently identified the genes in cats that cause allergic reactions called CH1 and CH2. The biopharmaceutical research company achieved this by deleting the genes from cat cells using CRISPR gene-editing technology and believes that this is the first step in creating hypoallergenic cats. Nicole Brackett, the head of the CRISPR cat team at InBio said that “the estimated timeline for this [project] is several years,” meaning that we are still a long way from genetically modified cats entering households.
Around 15% of people have cat allergies. This is mainly due to a protein in cat saliva and skin called Fel d 1. However, it is not clear what this protein does for cats, if anything, and it is unknown what effect getting rid of this protein will have on a cat’s health. If this protein can be removed without harming the cats, it might be possible to create a breed of completely hypoallergenic cats. Right now, all cats produce this protein but a few breeds produce less making them less likely to trigger allergic reactions however, no breed is completely allergy-friendly. Researchers compared the responsible genes in housecats to those found in larger cat species such as lions and tigers and found many differences between the DNA which suggests that these genes are not necessary to the survival of cats. So far, the CH1 and CH2 genes have only been deleted from cell samples and not live cats.
While this discovery could benefit many people who suffer from cat allergies, it also comes at a time of heavy debate around the ethics of CRISPR. CRISPR is a new gene-editing technology that allows scientists to find specific DNA sequences, which can then be altered or turned off or on. This process of altering the DNA of living organisms has raised ethical concerns within the medical community, especially when relating to human DNA editing. Claes Gustafsson, secretary of the Nobel committee in chemistry and professor of biochemistry and biophysics at Stockholm is quoted as saying that “every really powerful technology, in life sciences or elsewhere, there’s a possibility of misuse” about the danger of CRISPR gene editing. Additionally, questions might eventually be raised over the ethics of breeding a large number of hypoallergenic cats when there is already a massive overpopulation of cats. Around 3.2 million cats enter the foster system each year in the U.S. many of which belong to breeds that can be considered mostly hypoallergenic. Alternatives to the problem of cat allergies might be a vaccine that can get rid of the Fel d 1 protein by producing antibodies within the cat or by exposing kids to allergens young to reduce their risk of developing allergies later in life.
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