A novel gene therapy using CRISPR genome editing technology effectively targets cancer-causing “fusion genes” and improves survival in mouse models of aggressive liver and prostate cancers, UPCI researchers reported in a study published this month in Nature Biotechnology.
Fusion genes, which are often associated with cancer, form when two previously separate genes become joined together and produce an abnormal protein.The UPCI research team, led by Jian-Hua Luo, MD, PhD, Professor of Pathology and Director of the University of Pittsburgh High Throughput Genome Center, used viruses to deliver gene editing tools that cut out the mutated DNA of the fusion gene and replaced it with a gene that leads to death of the cancer cells.
Watch Dr. Luo discuss this research further in the video, and read more here.
