Genetic Engineering of Viruses to Infect Cancer for Human Health
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.58445/rars.331Keywords:
Genetic engineering, Cancer, Viruses, CRISPR/Cas9, Therapeutics, Genome editing, VirotherapyAbstract
Genetic engineering is the perturbation of DNA or RNA for research applications, diagnostics and addressing medical needs in health. Genome editing is the modification of genes in a living organism, which can be used, for example, in an attempt to fight genetic diseases. DNA is the genetic makeup of any organism and can be edited with enzymes, which will cut the nucleic acid, potentially altering the function of the specific gene that was edited. CRISPR is a revolutionary genetic engineering tool that utilizes one of these enzymes that can alter genomes with ease compared to previous tools. It consists of a Cas enzyme paired with a guide RNA and can cut a target locus in the DNA. Cancer remains one of the deadliest genetic diseases to the global human population. Although new treatments have come far, millions die from cancer every year. Viruses are also large killers, but we can alter the DNA of viruses and repurpose them to fight cancer cells. With oncolytic virotherapy, the repurposing of viruses as a therapeutic to attack cancer, we will be able to use certain genetically-engineered viruses to specifically infect cancer cells, helping work towards the eradication of cancer. Genetic engineering is key to the advancement of human health because, with the perturbation of organisms and viruses, we will be able to improve human health. CRISPR’s ability to accurately edit genes allows the applicability of virotherapy to fight cancer to become a reality. Being able to convert viruses into a cancer fighting treatment will require further clinical trials and further understanding of viral genetics for viruses to safely target cancerous cells and avoid healthy ones. If researchers are able to successfully create a virus for cancer treatment, it will only prove CRISPR's applicability as well as reliability in other genetic diseases beyond cancer.
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