Aplicación de repeticiones palindrómicas cortas agrupadas y regularmente espaciadas (CRISPR) en la lucha contra el cáncer

Gene editing consists in the manipulation of genome sequences, being able to inactivate target genes, repair harmful mutations or change the activity of specific genes in plants and animals, including humans. Three methods of genome editing are currently known: ZNF (zinc finger nucleases), TALEN (transcription activator-like effector nucleases) and CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats). Here we focus on CRISPR/Cas9 technology, whose advances allow its application in biological research and biotechnology. Its capacity to edit almost any DNA segment more precisely and rapidly than other editing tools, and the possibility of modifying human immune cells, makes it the most promising methodology for developing new therapies against cancer and other human diseases. In recent years, many studies done on the fight against cancer and other diseases using CRISPR/Cas9 show encouraging results. However, despite the rapid development of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing technology, its gene editing potential is hampered by its low efficiency, off-target effects and safety issues of the technique; therefore, there is a need to understand and characterize the biology underlying this technique in order to provide safe and effective treatments to patients. The Improvement in T-cell design to increase specificity, minimize toxicity and decrease off-target effects will be critical to the success of gene-editingbased therapies. The balance between efficacy and toxicity will make adoptive cell therapy a safe and effective therapy for cancer treatment. The recent and growing use of immunotherapy, gene therapy and the combination of both is a real and efficient fact in the treatment of cancer; moreover, new perspectives are opening up that give hope for greater safety in treatments. The rational design of genetically modified T cells is, in short, an enormous potential to revolutionize cancer treatments for generations to come