CRISPR-edited cells might cause cancer, two studies find

CRISPR-edited cells might cause cancer, two studies find

A serious new hurdle for CRISPR: Edited cells might cause cancer, find two studies

By SHARON BEGLEY @sxbegle

JUNE 11, 2018

Editing cells’ genomes with CRISPR-Cas9 might increase the risk that the altered cells, intended to treat disease, will trigger cancer, two studies published on Monday warn — a potential game-changer for the companies developing CRISPR-based therapies.

In the studies, published in Nature Medicine, scientists found that cells whose genomes are successfully edited by CRISPR-Cas9 have the potential to seed tumors inside a patient. That could make some CRISPR’d cells ticking time bombs, according to researchers from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and, separately, Novartis.

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