BioCentury
ARTICLE | Preclinical News

Paper calls for new CRISPR safety measures

July 31, 2017 11:32 PM UTC

In a study published in Nature Medicine on Monday, CRISPR pioneer Feng Zhang reported that genetic variation across the population could affect the safety and efficacy of CRISPR-based human therapeutics, and called for routine whole genome sequencing in patients before treatment.

As therapeutics based on CRISPR gene editing technology inch closer to the clinic, concerns remain regarding potential off-target activity, in which the system makes unintended edits at sites almost identical to the intended target. While CRISPR researchers and companies make improvements to the technology that increase efficacy and specificity, much of the research hasn't accounted for the genetic variability that exists across the human population...