[DIYbio] Re: are we at the dawn of a self experimentation gene therapy trend?

So some of you may have noticed the creation of the open human plasmid now being offered by the odin. If you're not aware of it you might want to go and look it up (http://www.the-odin.com/open-human-plasmid/). It is basically a plasmid for gene expression in human cells. Advertised for in vitro use but in theory just as usable in vivo. Of course getting a plasmid into human cells in vivo is quite difficult. Unless you are targeting muscle cells where electroporation has been demonstrated as an effective and efficient method for transfection of muscle. (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2975437/ and https://www.technologyreview.com/s/603217/one-mans-quest-to-hack-his-own-genes/)

Now this brings to mind an experiment I read about many years ago. (Biochimie. 2008 June ; 90(6): 838–842. and J Biol Chem. 2007 November 9; 282(45): 32844–32855.) In short a genetic modification of mice causing them to express a protein (PEPCK-C) normally expressed only in the liver and fat in muscle instead had 3 major effects:

1. increased life / health span and improved peri-mortem health.
2. Increased muscle mass, strength and endurance.
3. Hyper sexuality and aggression (sexuality and aggression are known to be closely linked in mice).

It's often been speculated by amateurs and transhumanists that replicating this work in humans might lead to long lived super strong transhumans. The major challenge has been a suitable vector for human somatic muscle. I know many will wish it wasn't pointed out but the open human plasmid in combination with electroporation is potentially exactly that vector. The electroporation targets muscle quite specifically as I understand it where as the open human plasmid will easily accept the PEPCK-C coding region which will be strongly expressed in muscle by the CMV promotor.

Now here I must give a disclaimer. I'm not a lawyer, this is not legal advice. However I believe self administration of this process is legal in the UK. In the UK genetic engineering is mostly regulated by the GMO regulations that relate to creation of genetically modified organisms. To be a genetically modified organism you have to be a non human biological organism or capable of transferring genetic material into one. The plasmid isn't capable of self transferring itself into cells. If it were a GMO every plasmid or DNA section ever manipulated in a lab would count as a GMO as they could all be transported into muscle cell through electroporation. However no human can be considered a GMO they are specifically excluded under the wording of the regulation. So it should be posable to administer this therapy to humans with out violating the GMO regulations. Of course there are other regulations relating to unlawful human experimentation but I expect most of them would be mitigated by only experimenting on ones self.

So what do you think are we on the verge of an explosion of self creating transhumans? You'd have to be pretty brave to strap your self down, inject your muscles with something you made from something you bought online, jab needles into a large portion of your body, then run very significant electrical currants through your self.

Now aside from the feasibility of this, which I'd be eager to hear your views about as well. I'd be interested to hear if anyone thinks amateurs are likely to go this far with self experimentation? And if this sort of thing catches on what then?