CRISPR technology and its application in cancer

CRISPR is a revolutionary genome-editing technology derived from the adaptive immune system of prokaryotes, which integrate short fragments of foreign nucleic acids in their genome in a specific manner and this serves as a vaccination card or cellular memory of past invaders. When exogenous DNA is detected, these fragments are transcribed giving an RNA that acts as a guide to a bacterial enzyme that will produce double strand breaks (DSB) in DNA sequences targeted by the RNA. This system has been adapted for gene editing in order to obtain directed DNA modifications in cells and organisms. This bibliographical review analyzes the discovery and application of this tool for genome editing, and its application in cancer research and therapy