Potentially Hazardous: CRISPR Therapeutics Could Promote Cancer
The CRISPR genome editing technique is incredibly efficient but not necessarily secure, the researchers warn. Sometimes cleaved chromosomes do not regrow, compromising genomic stability, which over time might support cancer. According to recent research from Tel Aviv University, using CRISPR therapeutics, a breakthrough, Nobel Prize-winning approach that entails cleaving and editing DNA, to treat ailments including cancer, liver, and intestinal disorders, and genetic abnormalities, has risks. Up to 10% of the treated T-cells, which are white blood cells in the immune system, had genetic material destroyed, according to research on how this procedure affected them. They clarify that such loss might cause the genome to become unstable, which might cause cancer. The Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov) and Tel Aviv University collaborated on the study, which was led by Dr. Adi Barzel of TAU's Wise Faculty of Life Sciences and Dotan Center for Advanced Therapies, as well as Drs. ...