A CRISPR Platform for Targeted In Vivo Screens

Abstract

Large-scale genetic screens are becoming increasingly used as powerful tools to query the genome to identify therapeutic targets in cancer. The advent of the CRISPR technology has revolutionized the effectiveness of these screens and has made it possible to carry out loss-of-function screens to identify cancer-specific genetic interactions. Such loss-of-function screens can be performed in silico, in vitro, and in vivo, depending on the scale of the screen, as well as research questions to be answered. Performing screens in vivo has its challenges but also advantages, providing opportunities to study the tumor microenvironment and cancer immunity. In this chapter, we present a procedural framework and associated notes for conducting in vivo CRISPR knockout screens in cancer models to study cancer biology, anti-tumor immune responses, tumor microenvironment, and predicting treatment responses.