- The peer-reviewed journal Nature Methods has retracted a 2017 paper that appeared to show evidence of off-target effects related to the much-hyped gene editing technology CRISPR/Cas9.
- Scrutiny from other researchers, however, revealed that the study lacked key controls making it impossible to attribute the observed genetic variants to off-target editing from CRISPR/Cas9.
- Specifically, the study focused on the use of CRISPR/Cas9 to correct a certain genetic mutation in inbred mice. As follow-up, the authors wanted to assess off-target changes so they sequenced the entire genome of the mice instead of the predicted sites. The problem was that the precise genetic relationship between the CRISPR/Cas9-treated animals and the control animals was unknown and they were not siblings. Also, the level of background genetic variation in the particular strain of mice was unknown thereby precluding any valid conclusions of potential off-target effects due to the absence of a baseline comparator.
- Related tickers: (NTLA -1.1%)(EDIT +0.7%)(CRSP -1.6%)
- Now read: Mergers And Acquisitions: Is There A Pending Catalyst For Crispr Therapeutics?
Original article