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A bacterial enzyme that indiscriminately slashes DNA (artist\u2019s illustration) has been harnessed to kill cancer cells. Credit: KTSDesign\/Science Photo Library<\/p>\n
Scientists have exploited a peculiar CRISPR enzyme<\/a> so that it fights cancer by shredding the DNA in cancer cells, causing them to self-destruct.<\/p>\n The enzyme can be programmed to recognize a specific messenger RNA, such as one made by a cancer cell. Once the enzyme finds its partner, it slashes the cell\u2019s genome to pieces.<\/p>\n The DNA-shredding approach, reported in two papers in Nature1<\/a>,2<\/a>, could provide a way for researchers to kill cancer cells that express \u2018undruggable\u2019 mutant proteins<\/a> that have been difficult to target using conventional medicines<\/a>.<\/p>\n CRISPR\u2019s next act: the companies editing the epigenome to treat disease<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a molecular kill switch that recognizes a particular RNA,\u201d says Yang Liu, a molecular biologist at the University of Utah School of Medicine in Salt Lake City, and an author of one of the papers. \u201cThis is basically a programmable chemotherapy.\u201d<\/p>\n A therapy that uses this approach to target head and neck cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) is already in early development at Akribion Therapeutics, a biotechnology company in Zwingenberg, Germany. The goal is to produce the first clinical-trial data by 2030, says company co-founder Paul Scholz, who is head of research and development at Akribion and a co-author of one of the papers.<\/p>\n Bacterial defenders<\/p>\n CRISPR systems occur naturally in bacteria and other microorganisms, in which they act as a protective immune mechanism. Some CRISPR systems use RNAs that direct CRISPR-associated (Cas) enzymes to target stretches of DNA in viruses and other invaders. The Cas enzyme then cuts the DNA, destroying the interloper. For more than a decade, researchers have harnessed and modified such systems to edit genomes, creating their own guide RNAs to direct the Cas enzymes to a desired site for editing.<\/p>\n But not all Cas enzymes are equal. Nearly ten years ago, Ryan Jackson, a biochemist at Utah State University in Logan, and his colleagues set about trying to work out the mechanism of a Cas protein, called Cas12a2. Their assumption, he says, was that the enzyme would function much like other Cas proteins used for gene editing.<\/p>\n Landmark cancer trial shows success against \u2018undruggable\u2019 cancer \u2014 raising hopes for future treatments<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n But assay after assay in the laboratory failed. \u201cWe said, \u2018Well this is not behaving the way we want,\u2019\u201d Jackson says. \u201cI accused my students of contaminating the protein.\u201d<\/p>\n Eventually, he and his colleagues, as well as another team, realized that Cas12a2 was different. After recognizing RNA sequences that matched its guide RNA, it went wild and indiscriminately chewed up DNA, causing the infected cell to stop growing3<\/a>,4<\/a>. In nature, this could then limit the spread of an infection through the population.<\/p>\n \u201cHow the hell does nature come up with a trick like that?\u201d says Rene Bernards, a cancer geneticist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam. \u201cBut, whatever. We can make good use of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Targeted killer<\/p>\n Now, two teams of researchers have done just that. Both turned their attention to cancer, and specifically to tumours driven by mutant proteins that scientists have struggled to target using conventional means. One group pointed its Cas12a2 towards RNA made by cells, including those with a mutation in the TP53 gene, which is altered in up to half of all cancers. The other group targeted RNA made from a mutated version of the KRAS gene. Mutant KRAS proteins can cause cells to grow out of control and are responsible for some of the deadliest cancers<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A bacterial enzyme that indiscriminately slashes DNA (artist\u2019s illustration) has been harnessed to kill cancer cells. Credit: KTSDesign\/Science…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[258,4663,103,2026,61,60,2027,82],"class_list":["post-566853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-crispr-cas9-genome-editing","tag-health","tag-humanities-and-social-sciences","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-multidisciplinary","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/d41586-026-02268-z_52927410.jpg\"\/)
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