Gene editing for cancer prevention may actually cause cancer

Gene editing or genome editing is a method which allows changing in an organism’s DNA sequence and is done to understand diseases using cells and animal models. This technology helps them to add, remove and to alter a particular location in the human genome. Several approaches to genome editing have been developed and still, scientists are working to determine whether gene editing is safe and effective for use in people and It is being explored on a wide variety of diseases which includes single-gene disorders and prevention of complex diseases like Cancer. A recent technology, known as CRISPR-Cas9, which is short for clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and CRISPR-associated protein 9. The CRISPR-Cas9 system has generated a lot of enthusiasm in the scientific community because it is faster, cheaper, more accurate, and more efficient than other existing genome editing methods.

CRISPR is a bacterial cell which contains fragments of DNA from viruses which have attacked them previously. These fragments are collected from the invading viruses and are used to create DNA segments known as CRISPR arrays which allow the bacteria to remember the viruses, so that when it will infect again then bacteria will produce RNA segments from the CRISPR arrays to target the virus and kills them.

The same technology i.e. CRISPR-Cas9 works similarly in the laboratory. Researcher creates a small piece of RNA with a short “guide” that binds to the target DNA and RNA binds to the Cas9 enzyme. Likewise, the modified RNA is used to recognize the infected DNA sequence and Cas9 cuts that DNA. Once it is cut, researchers use the cell’s own repair machinery to add or delete pieces of genetic material.

Ethical concern emerges when these technologies alter human genes. The change which affects certain tissues is not passed to the next generation. However, the changes made to genes in egg or sperm cells or in the genes of an embryo could be passed to future generations. Germ-line cell and embryo gene editing bring up a number of ethical issues, including whether it would be acceptable to use this technology to enhance normal human traits including height or intelligence. Based on the concerns about ethics and safety, germline cell and embryo genome editing are currently illegal in many countries.