Zeitschrift für Genetik und DNA-Forschung

CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing in Cancer: Current Applications and Future Prospects

Abstract

Mario Ventura

In prokaryotes, the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) system provides adaptive immunity against plasmids and phages. This system inspired the development of the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing system, which is a powerful genome engineering tool. The CRISPR/Cas9 technique has been used to investigate the functions of cancer-related genes, establish tumor-bearing animal models and probe drug targets, greatly increasing our understanding of cancer genomics. In this paper, we examine the current state of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology in oncological research. We begin by explaining the fundamental principles of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing before introducing several new CRISPR-based gene editing modes. The rapid progress of CRISPR screening in revealing tumorigenesis, metastasis and drug resistance mechanisms is then described.