Session Item

The class of RNA-guided endonuclease known as Cas9 from the microbial adaptive immune system CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) is an increasingly examined tool that could assist the challenge of providing each cancer patients with the highest chance of disease control using radiation therapy. This transformative technology enables targeted editing of the genome and is being turned into effective cancer gene editing therapies. Selective gene editing can be achieved through the design of a researcher-defined 16bp guide RNA sequence unique to the chosen target gene. Once inside the target cell, the gRNA binds the target sequence and the Cas9 enzyme acts as a pair of “molecular scissors” that can cut the two strands of DNA at this chosen specific location within the genome. This talk will discuss the potential and limitations of CRISPR-Cas9 for the development of novel radiotherapy combination therapies.