Gene Editing: a Powerful Tool for Cancer Immunotherapy

Abstract

Recently, Gene editing has emerged as one of the recent promising tools for gene therapy. This technique is remarkable in biotechnology and medicine since it enables genomic editing in vivo with high accuracy. The most important gene-editing enzymes are zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), homing meganucleases, transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9 (Cas9). The immune system plays an important role in the removal of abnormal and cancerous cells and their role in the defense against foreign pathogens. Immune cells routinely remove abnormal cells by screening cell function, gene mutations, and cancerous cell formation. The CRISPER technology was widely applied to introduce a therapeutic regimen in cancer treatment based on tumor genome editing. Additionally, it was used in cancer immunotherapy. For example, CRISPR technology has introduced an alternative to the conventional clinical drug, Herceptin, targeting HER2 in breast carcinoma. Moreover, it was used in CAR-T cell generation and immune cell checkpoint inhibition. Researchers are seeking to fight many hard diseases by using CRISPR technology. However, many challenges still exist. Some of these challenges include the requirement of PAM sequence, the possibility of on target deletion or addition, off-target effects, Cas9-DSB complex formation, the lack of perfect delivery methods, and low HDR output. In this review, we outline the application of CRISPR technology in cancer immunotherapy and the challenges that hinder the implementation of this technology.