Cindela: A Side Effect-free Treatment Technique

Genetic scissors
Genetic scissors

The Institute for Basic Science (IBS) and the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) announced on Feb. 23 that they have developed Cindela, a side effect-free treatment technique applicable to every cancer without damage to normal cells. Details of the research have been published in the Feb. 22 edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

Side effects of existing anticancer therapies are because those damage the DNA double helices of normal as well as cancer cells. With the technique developed by the joint research team, the double helices of mutant DNAs unique to cancer cells can be selectively removed using CRISPR/Cas9 genetic scissors.

Although genetic scissors-based cancer treatment has been attempted so far, it has required complicated processes and a lot of time because each carcinogenic mutant needs to be found along with causes and then genetic scissors need to be made for restoration.

The research team conducted bioinformatic analysis to detect mutants unique to cancer cell lines. Then, it made CRISPR genetic scissors Cindela to target the mutants, tested it on mice, and proved the selective cell killing along with its cancer cell growth inhibition effect.

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