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bioRxiv · 10.1101/291302

Cancer therapy with a CRISPR-assistant telomerase-activating gene expression system

Dai, W.·Xu, X.·Wang, D.·Wu, J.·Wang, J.
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Abstract

Telomerase is silent in most normal somatic cells while active in 90% of tumor cells. Various telomerase activity inhibitors have been developed to treat cancer but all failed due to side effects. Here we acted oppositely to develop a cancer therapy named telomerase-activating gene expression (Tage) by utilizing the telomerase activity in tumor cells. By using CRISPR/Cas9 functions, the Tage system can effectively kill various cancer cells, including HepG2, HeLa, PANC-1, MDA-MB-453, A549, HT-29, SKOV-3, Hepa1-6, and RAW264.7, without effecting normal cells. By using homothallic switching endonuclease and adeno-associated virus, the Tage system realizes its in vivo application. The virus-loaded Tage system can significantly and specifically kill the cancer cells in mice by intravenous drug administration without side effects or toxicity.\n\nOne Sentence Summary: Killing cancer cells in body with a gene therapy missile detonated by telomerase.

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Dai, W., Xu, X., Wang, D., Wu, J., Wang, J.. 2018-03-29. Cancer therapy with a CRISPR-assistant telomerase-activating gene expression system. https://doi.org/10.1101/291302

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