Open Access

ARTICLE

CRISPR accelerates the cancer drug discovery

by RUYU YAN^1,#, JUNJIE WANG^1,#, MINXIA LIU², KECHENG ZHOU^1,3,*

1 School of Life Science, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, 230000, China
2 Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland, Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland
3 Department of Anatomy, Faculty of Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, 00014, Finland

* Corresponding Author: Kecheng Zhou,
# Equal contribution

(This article belongs to the Special Issue: Expert Opinions and Future Trends on Stem Cells, Biomaterials and Growth Factors)

BIOCELL 2022, 46(10), 2159-2165. https://doi.org/10.32604/biocell.2022.021107

Received 28 December 2021; Accepted 10 March 2022; Issue published 13 June 2022

Abstract

Emerging cohorts and basic studies have associated certain genetic modifications in cancer patients, such as gene mutation, amplification, or deletion, with the overall survival prognosis, underscoring patients’ genetic background may directly regulate drug sensitivity/resistance during chemotherapies. Understanding the molecular mechanism underpinning drug sensitivity/resistance and further uncovering the effective drugs have been the major ambition in the cancer drug discovery. The emergence and popularity of CRISPR/Cas9 technology have reformed the entire life science research, providing a precise and simplified genome editing tool with unlimited editing possibilities. Furthermore, it presents a powerful tool in cancer drug discovery, which hopefully facilitates us with a rapid and reliable manner in developing novel therapies and understanding the molecular mechanisms of drug sensitivity/resistance. Herein, we summarized the application of CRISPR/Cas9 in drug screening, with the focus on CRISPR/Cas9 mediated gene knockout, gene knock-in, as well as transcriptional modification. Additionally, this review provides the concerns, cautions, and ethnic considerations that need to be taken when applying CRISPR in the drug discovery.

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Keywords

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