Applying CRISPR-Cas9 screens to dissect hematological malignancies

Abstract

Bit by bit, over the last few decades, functional genomic tools have been piecing together the molecular puzzle driving tumorigenesis in human patients. Nevertheless, our understanding of the role of several genes and regulatory elements that drive critical cancer-associated physiological processes from disease development to progression to spread is very limited, which significantly affects our ability of applying these insights in the context of improved disease management. The recent advent of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)-CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9)–based technology and its application in cancer genomics has, however, allowed the generation of a wealth of knowledge that has helped decipher several critical questions associated with translational cancer research. Precisely, the high-throughput capability coupled with a high level of technological plasticity associated with the CRISPR-Cas9 screens have expanded our horizons from a mere struggle to appreciate cancer as a genetic disease to observing the integrated genomic/epigenomic network of numerous malignancies and correlating it with our present knowledge of drugging strategies to develop innovative approaches for next-generation precision cancer medicine. Specifically, within blood cancers, current CRISPR screens have specifically focused on improving our understanding of drug resistance mechanisms, disease biology, the development of novel therapeutic approaches, and identifying the molecular mechanisms of current therapies, with an underlying aim of improving disease outcomes. Here, we review the development of the CRISPR-Cas9 genome-editing strategy, explicitly focusing on the recent advances in the CRISPR-Cas9–based screening approaches, its current capabilities, limitations, and future applications in the context of hematological malignancies.