I know almost nothing about bio, hopefully someone more knowledgeable can answer. But I had the same thought -- one treatment for 18 months of relief sounds great! even people that _are_ lactose tolerant often lose tolerance as they age, so it seems like this could have wide appeal. Do it ~30 times and you could be lactose-tolerant your whole life.
He covers it in the video -- the cells lining your intestine are replaced as you age. Unless you get the lactose-tolerant gene into your stem cells, the newly-generated intestine lining will have your 'original' genetics, lacking the lactose tolerant gene. That said, it does sound like it's fading gradually for him, not a sudden drop off.
"even people that _are_ lactose tolerant often lose tolerance as they age, so it seems like this could have wide appeal."
My point is that people who are lactose tolerant as a child will have the same genes when they are older. So gene editing should have no effect, unless the mechanism is more complicated somehow.
I remember reading about this. A key piece of information which should perhaps be in the title of the video is that the "fix" is transient.
There's an update video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoczYXJeMY4
Apparently the fix lasted ~18 months
Could the same fix be applied again?
I know almost nothing about bio, hopefully someone more knowledgeable can answer. But I had the same thought -- one treatment for 18 months of relief sounds great! even people that _are_ lactose tolerant often lose tolerance as they age, so it seems like this could have wide appeal. Do it ~30 times and you could be lactose-tolerant your whole life.
But wait, if you lose tolerance then there must be some other mechanism involved because your genes stay the same as you age.
He covers it in the video -- the cells lining your intestine are replaced as you age. Unless you get the lactose-tolerant gene into your stem cells, the newly-generated intestine lining will have your 'original' genetics, lacking the lactose tolerant gene. That said, it does sound like it's fading gradually for him, not a sudden drop off.
I was replying to this part of your comment:
"even people that _are_ lactose tolerant often lose tolerance as they age, so it seems like this could have wide appeal."
My point is that people who are lactose tolerant as a child will have the same genes when they are older. So gene editing should have no effect, unless the mechanism is more complicated somehow.