Can Gene Editing be Utilized as a Treatment for Mental Health?
Recent studies suggest gene editing may soon be used to treat mental health disorders, such as depression or PTSD, raising further questions about the controversy of such treatments.
Photo Source: BrainFacts
While CRISPR technology has been used to treat physical ailments like sickle cell anemia, it has yet to be used to treat any mental health disorders, such as depression or PTSD. This is due to both the controversy and technical difficulties involved in applying gene editing to something as complicated as mental health. The entire conversation was curtailed by the fact that the idea remained purely hypothetical. However, recent studies suggest that may change soon.
In May 2022, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago published a study proving that gene editing could be used to reduce the effects of adolescent alcohol exposure in rats. These results prompt the question: can we use gene editing to treat mental health disorders, and perhaps more importantly, should we?
There are complications when it comes to transitioning this type of study from rats to humans. First, the researchers in question only examined one gene. The genetics behind any mental disorder, from those caused by alcohol exposure to those innate in a person’s genes, generally involve a combination of multiple genes and epigenetic factors. This means that in order to actually apply this knowledge, a variety of information about a variety of genetic factors needs to be collected.
Second, it’s difficult to predict the long-term efficacy and side effects of this type of gene therapy. While the treatment performed in the study did not lose effectiveness over time, rats don’t live very long. Only two to three years, in fact, compared to the decades that this treatment would need to be effective for in humans. Furthermore, it’s difficult to determine what the long-term side effects might be. Perhaps the genes targeted in the treatment were an integral part of their brain makeup and any changes will fundamentally alter their brain chemistry.
We also don’t know what the effect on society will be. Creativity and madness sometimes go hand in hand, and when we think of the great musicians, artists and scientists of our history, they’re rarely well-adjusted people. What sort of accomplishments would society lose if these people weren’t genetically coded the way they were? Alternatively, is it worth sacrificing the health and happiness of these individuals for a nebulous potential gain?
That brings us neatly to our final, and most important, complication. Is it moral to use gene editing to treat mental disorders? One issue is that the answer might change based off the disorder and the age of the person involved. It may be possible to treat the anxiety caused by adolescent alcohol use, and a capable adult may consent to that, but what about an autism diagnosis in a fetus? In that instance, the parents would be responsible for making the decision, and I can imagine there would be significant debate over whether or not it’s right to do so.
All of this is on top of the already heated debate surrounding the possibility of using gene editing technologies to treat any genetic disease. Some, like Chinese researcher He Jiankui, who created a set of HIV-resistant twins using CRISPR gene editing, believe that, “there will be no question about the morality of gene surgery in 20-30 years.”
In contrast, Jennifer Doudna, one of the inventors of CRISPR, has said that it is necessary to “confine the use of gene editing in human embryos to cases where a clear unmet medical need exists, and where no other medical approach is a viable option.” For many mental illnesses, such as PTSD or addiction, there is a clear need for other treatments. However, it’s hard to argue that there are no other viable medical approaches when drug treatments and psychotherapy exist.
When debating whether or not it is moral to use gene editing as a treatment for mental illness, further questions are continuously prompted about the way we consider mental illnesses and how much we value the people living with them. Without a clear consensus on how to treat such individuals, it doesn’t look like we’ll have an easy answer to the question of whether gene editing is a good treatment for mental illness.
Best,
Grace for the Don’t Count Us Out Yet Team