August 22, 2025

Danvy Tran

Fountain Valley High School

10th Grade

For generations, traditional treatments for cancer, such as chemotherapy and radiation, have been blunt weapons in our medical battles. These treatments indiscriminately target both harmful and healthy cells, often resulting in intense side effects. While still effective, they come at a high cost, weakening the vulnerable body needed for fighting. Fortunately, a new gene-editing breakthrough has emerged, changing the way we approach cancer: CRISPR, or Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats. Initially found in a bacterial defense system, CRISPR allows scientists to delve into the genes of the sick with impressive speed, precision, and control, enabling the wielding of a scalpel instead of a club. Rather than imposing war upon the entire body, we can now pinpoint the exact genetic mutations fueling a person’s cancer and rewrite the code at its source.

Cancer is not only an illness; it’s a growing army of damaged cells turning against their own home in a relentless war. These mutated cells disregard the instructions of genetics, uncontrollably dividing until a tumor is formed. Through the lymphatic system or bloodstream, cancerous cells can invade other parts of the body in a process called metastasis, as described by the Cleveland Clinic, which explains, “Metastasis happens when cancer cells break off from the original tumor, enter your bloodstream or lymphatic system, and then spread to other areas of your body.” Cancer is divided into four stages, and the further it advances, the harder it is to treat. In a fast and silent disease, action often can’t wait.

Chemotherapy is a systemic form of cancer treatment that employs cytotoxic medicine, expelling rapidly dividing cells throughout the bloodstream—cancer cells. However, this means that healthy cells are targeted as well, such as skin and hair cells. The process often leads to side effects like hair loss, nausea, and fatigue. Radiation therapy is another widely used cancer treatment that kills or damages cancer cells with high-energy particles or waves, like x-rays, gamma rays, electron beams, or protons. There are three main types of radiation, depending on the cancer and its location: external, internal, and systemic. Like chemotherapy, radiation targets cancer cells but does not completely avoid healthy tissue. According to the American Cancer Society, common side effects include fatigue, skin problems, hair loss, and low blood counts. Together, these traditional treatments form a backbone for cancer care, but their harsh effects on healthy cells and tissues call for a less harmful, more targeted solution.

CRISPR offers a new approach to curing cancer, allowing for genes to be edited with precision. Cancer Biology Research states, “It works by using a guide RNA to target a specific DNA sequence and the Cas9 enzyme to cut the DNA at that location.” Cas9 then creates a double-stranded break in the DNA. As a response, the cell attempts to repair the break using one of two methods: non-homologous end joining (NHEJ) and homology-directed repair (HDR). NHEJ causes disruptions, disabling the gene. HDR inserts or corrects specific sequences with a provided DNA template. With this targeted editing, scientists are able to destroy cancer cells and oncogenes, restrict tumor growth, and reprogram immune cells. As technology advances, CRISPR displays significant potential in winning one of medicine’s most challenging battles.

CRISPR has opened new doors in personalized medicine, granting each patient a treatment tailored to their profiles. What exactly can CRISPR do? In an experimental trial, it was seen that CRISPR is able to re-engineer and strengthen a patient’s immune cells to better recognize and fight tumors. This process is called CAR-T cell therapy, or “Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T cell therapy is a type of immunotherapy that activates your immune cells (T cells) against sick or damaged cells,” as Explore CAR T explains. CAR-T can be used for specific types of cancer, such as leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma. 

However, great power comes with responsibility. CRISPR’s power of altering genetic information raises ethical concerns through possible mistakes, such as editing incorrect locations within the DNA or causing unintended mutations. Due to these potential risks, testing and strict regulations are required before CRISPR is able to make it as a common treatment.

Despite the challenges, the progress and evidence of CRISPR’s promises shine a light of hope. With modernizing technology, we can finally face cancer with knowledge and confidence. The future of cancer treatment lies not in destroying the entire battlefield to defeat disease but in understanding and rewiring the body’s own code. With each new breakthrough of information, the light becomes brighter, turning cancer from a deadly word to a curable disease.