Investigating the Potential of CRISPR-Cas9 Epigenetic Editing in Tumor Settings

Revelations in gene editing have made it possible to tinker in the vast human epigenome and to potentially alter the projection of diseases, including cancer. DNA methylation is an epigenetic mechanism that marks the regulation of gene expression. P53 is a highly-mutated gene in many patients with various cancerous tumors. The insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP2) is an oncogene directly regulated through p53-mediated transcription. In tumorigenesis, this protein has both tumor-promoting and -suppressing functions. “In this study, we will focus on the insulin-like growth factor binding protein 2 (IGFBP2), a recently discovered multitasked gene regulated by DNA methylation which has also been reported to function both as a tumor-promoting and -suppressing gene.” Researchers from The Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam conducted a study using CRISPR/Cas9 technology and IGFBP2 to learn about the process of DNA methylation in various tumor settings. Their trending research paper was published in Oncotarget in 2021, and entitled, ​​“Diverse transcriptional regulation and functional effects revealed by CRISPR/Cas9-directed epigenetic editing.” “Here, we have taken advantage of CRISPR/dCas9 technology adapted for epigenetic editing through site-specific targeting of DNA methylation to characterize the transcriptional changes of the candidate gene and the functional effects on cell fate in different tumor settings.” Full blog - https://www.impactjournals.com/journals/blog/oncotarget/exploration-of-gene-editing-in-the-tumor-setting/ Press release - https://www.oncotarget.com/news/pr/crispr-cas9-directed-epigenetic-editing/ Sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article - https://oncotarget.altmetric.com/details/email_updates?id=10.18632%2Foncotarget.28037 DOI - https://doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.28037 Full text - https://www.oncotarget.com/article/28037/text/ Correspondence to - Miguel Vizoso - orcid.org/0000-0002-9992-2851 and Jacco van Rheenen - j.v.rheenen@nki.nl Keywords - targeted DNA methylation, CRISPR/Cas9-based system, IGFBP2, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition About Oncotarget Oncotarget is a bi-weekly, peer-reviewed, open access biomedical journal covering research on all aspects of oncology. To learn more about Oncotarget, please visit https://www.oncotarget.com or connect with: SoundCloud - https://soundcloud.com/oncotarget Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Oncotarget/ Twitter - https://twitter.com/oncotarget LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/company/oncotarget Pinterest - https://www.pinterest.com/oncotarget/ Reddit - https://www.reddit.com/user/Oncotarget/ Oncotarget is published by Impact Journals, LLC please visit https://www.ImpactJournals.com or connect with @ImpactJrnls Media Contact MEDIA@IMPACTJOURNALS.COM 18009220957