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Fig. 2 | Molecular Cancer

Fig. 2

From: Current applications and future perspective of CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing in cancer

Fig. 2

A brief history of CRISPR/Cas9 system development and associated gene editing tools. The CRISPR locus and cas genes were identified in 1987 and 2002 respectively. In 2005, it was discovered by RNA-sequencing that bacterial CRISPR loci contain a number of spacers derived from bacteriophage and other extrachromosomal elements. In 2007, it was confirmed that CRISPR/Cas system mediates the adaptive immunity of prokaryotes to bacteriophages. In 2012, it was confirmed that the double RNA structure formed by tracrRNA and mature crRNA instructed Cas9 to cleave DNA at the target site. In 2013, Type II CRISPR/Cas achieved precise editing of endogenous genome sites in mammalian cells. In the following years, the advent of several CRISPR/Cas9-based gene editing tools has dramatically improved the precision of genome editing and widened its extent of application. In 2016, CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing tools were first applied to clinical treatments, and subsequent clinical trials provided new insights for humans to explore cancer treatments

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