Gene editing in human development: Ethical concerns and practical applications

Abstract

The amazing power of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tools and other related technologies has impacted all areas of biology today. It has also raised ethical concerns, particularly with regard to the possibility of generating heritable changes in the human genome – so-called germline gene editing. Although technical and safety issues suggest that this approach is far from clinical application, gene editing as a research tool is moving forward in human embryos, non-human primates and in stem cell-derived embryoids. These studies are already providing new information relevant to our understanding of normal human development, infertility, early pregnancy loss and pluripotent stem cell origins.