Letter to Editor on CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing and Nobel Prize

Abstract

The countless applications of CRISPR-Cas9 genetic scissors are benefiting all of us in our research centres and we will most probably continue to benefit from this technology in the future. However, there are still questions that need to be answered: what will happen with the human genome editing in the long run? When will genome editing be proven to be safe and efficient to be used in editing human embryos? How many more experiments are necessary to be done on embryos to get an answer? Are there going to be rules and authorization in using gene-therapy kits in human genome editing, to prevent misuse of the technology? When will CRISPR-based gene editing be routinely used in clinic? We still need more time to get an answer to these questions and learn more about this technology. Let’s see together what surprising outcomes will genome editing science CRISPR-Cas9 bring us.

Keywords

• CRISPR-Cas9
• genome editing
• Nobel Prize

References

1. Ernst, M. P., Broeders, M., Herrero-Hernandez, P., Oussoren, E., van der Ploeg, A. T., & Pijnappel, W. P. (2020). Ready for repair? Gene editing enters the clinic for the treatment of human disease. Molecular Therapy-Methods & Clinical Development. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.omtm.2020.06.022.
2. Frangoul, H., Altshuler, D., Cappellini, M. D., Chen, Y. S., Domm, J., Eustace, B. K., ... & Ho, T. W. (2020). CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing for sickle cell disease and β-thalassemia. New England Journal of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2031054.
3. Ledford, H., & Callaway, E. (2020). Pioneers of revolutionary CRISPR gene editing win chemistry Nobel. Nature, 586(7829), 346-347. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-02765-9.