With a snip of a gene, doctors may one day permanently lower dangerously high cholesterol, possibly removing the need for medication, according to a new pilot study published Saturday in the New England Journal of Medicine .

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The study was extremely small — only 15 patients with severe disease — and was meant to test the safety of a new medication delivered by CRISPR-Cas9, a biological sort of scissor which cuts a targeted gene to modify or turn it on or off.

Preliminary results, however, showed nearly a 50% reduction in low-density lipoprotein , or LDL, the "bad" cholesterol which plays a major role in heart disease — the No. 1 killer of adults in the United States and worldwide.

The study, which will be presented Saturday a

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