Investigating the Role Of CRISPR In Treating Hematopoietic Malignancies

Abstract: Since its discovery, CRISPR has accelerated progress in the understanding and treatment of many genetic diseases, with an efficiency and accuracy that greatly surpasses those of previous methods of genome editing. CRISPR has advanced the field of leukemia research and therapy because of the ease with which hematopoietic cells can be obtained, studied, edited, and transfused into the patient as treatment. CRISPR has been used to screen for therapeutic targets in leukemia, and to generate a wide variety of animal and cellular models to facilitate leukemia research and drug development. In the clinical setting, CRISPR has been applied to leukemia treatment through immunotherapy, and has shown specifically remarkable results when used to edit T-cells for CAR T-cell therapy. CRISPR can also be used in leukemia therapy if employed for the genetic editing of hematopoietic stem cells for autologous transplantation. This review aims to discuss the role of CRISPR in the fight against leukemia and focuses on the assessment of the performance of CRISPR as a gene editing tool in leukemia research and therapy. It also aims to bring forth the limitations regarding the use of CRISPR and identifies areas where there is scope for improvement. Further, the review also aims to address ethical and safety concerns associated with the use of CRISPR as a gene editing tool and concludes with a final evaluation of its use in leukemia research and therapy