Cas9-reactive Tregs could mitigate Cas9 immunogenicity concerns

Charite - Universitaetsmedizin Berlin researchers point to a potential strategy for staving off an immune system attack against CRISPR-associated protein 9-based gene editing therapies: pitting a patient's pre-existing Cas9-reactive Treg cells against Cas9-reactive effector T cell counterparts.

Earlier this year, Stanford University Professor Matthew Porteus raised Cas9 immunogenicity concerns, finding evidence that many people may have pre-existing immunity to Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 and another commonly used CRISPR-associated enzyme, S. aureus. His group's study was published on the preprint server bioRxiv in January (see "Stanford Study Raises Cas9 Immunogenicity Concerns")...