CRISPR-Cas13a system: a novel approach to precision oncology

[...]does the collateral cleavage effect occur in other cancer cells? [...]what is the intrinsic cleavage mechanism of CRISPR-Cas13a in glioma cells? Recently, Gootenberg et al.16,17 have established a Cas13a-based molecular detection platform called Specific High-Sensitivity Enzymatic Reporter UnLOCKing (SHERLOCK) to detect DNA and RNA in vitro, such as specific strains of Zika virus and low-frequency mutations in human cell-free tumor DNA. Table 1 Comparison of CRISPR-Cas9 and CRISPR-Cas13a Item CRISPR-Cas9 CRISPR-Cas13a Subtype Type II Type IV Guide RNA tracrRNA and crRNA crRNA Target substrate preference PAM PFS Nuclease domain HNH and RuvC HEPN crRNA processing RNase III Helical-1 domain Applications DNA targeting, tracking, editing RNA targeting, tracking DNA detection RNA targeting, tracking Figure 1 Key studies on the characterization and engineering of the CRISPR-Cas13a system.