Journal of Cancer Science and Research
Open Access

Abstract

Applications of CRSIPR/Cas9 in Cancer Research

Junming Yue, Ziyun Du, Fu-Ming Zhou, Peixin Dong and Lawrence M Pfeffer

The technology based on clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR/Cas9) has been successfully applied to genome editing and has shown a promising future in gene functional studies. Human cancer is a complex disease due to multiple gene mutations, amplifications, deletions, up regulations or down regulations. It is a challenge to generate precise cell or animal cancer models in vitro and in vivo to investigate the complex process of cancer. The CRISPR/Cas9 technology provides a new opportunity to study human cancer by disrupting multiple genes or introducing point mutations at a specific locus of genome, and thus mimicking the features of human cancer in cell or animal models. Here we will review the current status of CRIPSR/Cas9 system and its potential application to cancer research.