Gene-editing treatment may raise cancer risk

A pioneering gene-editing treatment could sow the seeds of cancer, a Cambridge study has warned.

The “molecular scissors” technology, known as CRISPR-CAS9, is capable of making highly precise changes to DNA and has already transformed laboratory research in inherited diseases, stem cells and embryonic development.

But according to a new study from Cambridge University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, it works most effectively on cells lacking a mechanism that protects them from DNA damage, therefore it is likely to pick out abnormal cells that can sow the seeds of cancer.