Researchers repurpose a DNA-shredding CRISPR enzyme to target cancer cells
Researchers have repurposed a bacterial CRISPR enzyme — one that normally shreds DNA as a self-destruct response to infection — to selectively destroy cancer cells in laboratory tests, according to work described in Nature. Rather than making precise edits like the widely used Cas9, this class of enzyme degrades DNA broadly once activated, which the team harnessed to kill tumor cells that carry specific genetic signatures.
The approach is early and confined to preclinical models, so it is far from a treatment. But it points to a different way of using CRISPR systems in medicine: not to correct a gene, but to trigger cell death in targeted populations of cells, a strategy that could in principle be tuned to spare healthy tissue.
Whether the effect holds up in animals and can be delivered safely will determine if it moves beyond the lab.