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Efficient gene disruption with CRISPR–Cas3 in human T cells

delete2026-04-21
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OA
AI
T
Tomoaki Fujii
Y
Yukimi Sakoda
K
Kazuto Yoshimi
K
Kohei Takeshita
S
Shoji Watanabe
R
Ryuya Iida
T
Tsubasa Obo
K
Kazumasa Yokoyama
K
Koji Tamada
T
Tomoji Mashimo *
DOI:10.1093/narcan/zcag009delete
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Abstract

Abstract

En 中文
The CRISPR–Cas9 system has been widely adopted as a genome editing tool due to its high efficiency and versatility, contributing to the development of various therapeutic strategies. However, its clinical application remains limited by safety concerns, including off-target effects and large-scale chromosomal rearrangements such as translocations and inversions. Recently, the CRISPR–Cas3 system, a Class 1 CRISPR effector complex with unidirectional DNA degradation activity, has gained attention as a potential alternative, offering reduced off-target activity. In this study, we applied the CRISPR–Cas3 system to human T cells and successfully disrupted two clinically relevant genes, T cell receptor alpha constant (TRAC) and beta-2 microglobulin (B2M). These gene deletions were associated with a reduction in both graft-versus-host disease risk and host immune rejection. Importantly, no off-target mutations were detected in CRISPR–Cas3-edited cells, in contrast to the off-target effects observed with CRISPR–Cas9. Furthermore, CAR-T cells generated by deleting TRAC or B2M using CRISPR–Cas3 maintained their antigen-specific cytotoxicity against tumor cells, while exhibiting reduced alloreactivity. These results suggest that CRISPR–Cas3 provides a safer and promising platform for genome editing in T cell engineering, with potential applications in the development of next-generation allogeneic T cell therapies.
Keywords:
CRISPR–Cas3
genome editing
human T cells
gene disruption
allogeneic T cell therapy

Journal

N
NAR Cancer
IF:
3.2
Papers:
330
Citations:
807

Organization

Y
yamaguchi university
Scholars:
496
Papers: 169
Citations: 0
T
the university of tokyo
Scholars:
5.0K
Papers: 2.3K
Citations: 1
R
RIKEN
Scholars:
886
Papers: 335
Citations: 1.6W
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