Scientists turn CRISPR enzyme into “molecular kill switch” to target cancer cells

Salt Lake City: Scientists have repurposed a gene-editing tool into a targeted cancer killer that selectively shreds cancer DNA.

CRISPR enzymes usually act like molecular scissors, making precise cuts to RNA and DNA to edit genomes. But researchers have now weaponized one rogue enzyme — Cas12a2 — which behaves more like a paper shredder, destroying genetic material once activated.

In two separate studies, teams programmed Cas12a2 to attack cancer. One group directed the enzyme at a specific genetic mutation found in up to half of all cancers. The other targeted a mutant protein that drives uncontrolled cell growth.

In lab tests, Cas12a2 selectively killed mutated cancer cells and shrank tumors in mice, while leaving healthy cells largely untouched.

Yang Liu, a molecular biologist at the University of Utah School of Medicine and author of one of the papers, called the approach a “molecular kill switch.”The work is still at the proof-of-concept stage. But researchers say it could open a new path for precision cancer therapies that destroy only cells carrying cancer-causing mutations.