CRISPR/CAS9: A promising approach for the research and treatment of cardiovascular diseases

Advancing fish disease research through CRISPR-Cas genome editing: Recent developments and future perspectives

CRISPR-Cas genome editing technology has transformed genetic research, by enabling unprecedented precision in modifying DNA sequences across various organisms, including fish. This review explores the significant advancements and potential uses of CRISPR-Cas technology in the study and management of fish diseases, which pose serious challenges to aquaculture and wild fish populations. Fish diseases cause significant economic losses and environmental impacts, therefore effective disease control a top priority. The review highlights the pivotal role of CRISPR-Cas in identifying disease-associated genes, which is critical to comprehending the genetic causes of disease susceptibility and resistance. Some studies have reported key genetic factors that influence disease outcomes, using targeted gene knockouts and modifications to pave the way for the development of disease-resistant fish strains. The creation of such genetically engineered fish holds great promise for enhancing aquaculture sustainability by reducing the reliance on antibiotics and other conventional disease control measures. In addition, CRISPR-Cas has facilitated in-depth studies of pathogen-host interactions, offering new insights into the mechanisms by which pathogens infect and proliferate within their hosts. By manipulating both host and pathogen genes, this technology provides a powerful tool for uncovering the molecular underpinnings of these interactions, leading to the development of more effective treatment strategies. While CRISPR-Cas has shown great promise in fish research, its application remains limited to a few species, primarily model organisms and some freshwater fish. In addition, challenges such as off-target effects, ecological risks, and ethical concerns regarding the release of genetically modified organisms into the environment must be carefully addressed. This review also discusses these challenges and emphasizes the need for robust regulatory frameworks and ongoing research to mitigate risks. Looking forward, the integration of CRISPR-Cas with other emerging technologies, such as multi-omics approaches, promises to further advance our understanding and management of fish diseases. This review concludes by envisioning the future directions of CRISPR-Cas applications in fish health, underscoring its potential to its growing in the field.

Gene Therapy for Cardiovascular Disease: Clinical Perspectives

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) stands as one of the leading causes of death in the United States, with its prevalence steadily on the rise. Traditional therapeutic approaches, such as pharmacological treatment, cardiovascular intervention, and surgery, have inherent limitations. In response to these challenges, cardiac gene therapy has emerged as a promising alternative for treating CVD patients. However, several obstacles persist, including the low efficiency of gene transduction, immune reactions to vectors or transduced cells, and the occurrence of off-target effects. While preclinical research has demonstrated significant success in various CVD model in both small and large animals, the translation of these findings to clinical applications has, for the most part, yielded disappointing results, except for some early, albeit small, trials. This review aims to provide a comprehensive summary of recent preclinical and clinical studies on gene therapy for various CVDs. Additionally, we discuss the existing limitations and challenges that hinder the widespread clinical application of cardiac gene therapy.

Pan-cancer analysis of m1A writer gene RRP8: implications for immune infiltration and prognosis in human cancers

BACKGROUND

Ribosomal RNA Processing 8 (RRP8) is a gene associated with RNA modification and has been implicated in the development of several types of tumors in recent research. Nevertheless, the biological importance of RRP8 in pan-cancer has not yet been thoroughly and comprehensively investigated.

METHODS

In this study, we conducted an analysis of various public databases to investigate the biological functions of RRP8. Our analysis included examining its correlation with pan-cancer prognosis, heterogeneity, stemness, immune checkpoint genes, and immune cell infiltration. Furthermore, we utilized the GDSC and CTRP databases to assess the sensitivity of RRP8 to small molecule drugs.

RESULTS

Our findings indicate that RRP8 exhibits differential expression between tumor and normal samples, particularly impacting the prognosis of various cancers such as Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) and Kidney Chromophobe (KICH). The expression of RRP8 is intricately linked to tumor heterogeneity and stemness markers. Additionally, RRP8 shows a positive correlation with the presence of tumor-infiltrating cells, with TP53 being the predominant mutated gene in these malignancies.

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that RRP8 may serve as a potential prognostic marker and therapeutic target in a variety of cancer types.

Unravelling the impact of RNA methylation genetic and epigenetic machinery in the treatment of cardiomyopathy

Cardiomyopathy (CM) represents a heterogeneous group of diseases primarily affecting cardiac structure and function, with genetic and epigenetic dysregulation playing a pivotal role in its pathogenesis. Emerging evidence from the burgeoning field of epitranscriptomics has brought to light the significant impact of various RNA modifications, notably N6-methyladenosine (m6A), 5-methylcytosine (m5C), N7-methylguanosine (m7G), N1-methyladenosine (m1A), 2'-O-methylation (Nm), and 6,2'-O-dimethyladenosine (m6Am), on cardiomyocyte function and the broader processes of cardiac and vascular remodelling. These modifications have been shown to influence key pathological mechanisms including mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, cardiomyocyte apoptosis, inflammation, immune response, and myocardial fibrosis. Importantly, aberrations in the RNA methylation machinery have been observed in human CM cases and animal models, highlighting the critical role of RNA methylating enzymes and their potential as therapeutic targets or biomarkers for CM. This review underscores the necessity for a deeper understanding of RNA methylation processes in the context of CM, to illuminate novel therapeutic avenues and diagnostic tools, thereby addressing a significant gap in the current management strategies for this complex disease.

Emerging Trends and Innovations in the Treatment and Diagnosis of Atherosclerosis and Cardiovascular Disease: A Comprehensive Review towards Healthier Aging

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are classed as diseases of aging, which are associated with an increased prevalence of atherosclerotic lesion formation caused by such diseases and is considered as one of the leading causes of death globally, representing a severe health crisis affecting the heart and blood vessels. Atherosclerosis is described as a chronic condition that can lead to myocardial infarction, ischemic cardiomyopathy, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease and to date, most pharmacological therapies mainly aim to control risk factors in patients with cardiovascular disease. Advances in transformative therapies and imaging diagnostics agents could shape the clinical applications of such approaches, including nanomedicine, biomaterials, immunotherapy, cell therapy, and gene therapy, which are emerging and likely to significantly impact CVD management in the coming decade. This review summarizes the current anti-atherosclerotic therapies' major milestones, strengths, and limitations. It provides an overview of the recent discoveries and emerging technologies in nanomedicine, cell therapy, and gene and immune therapeutics that can revolutionize CVD clinical practice by steering it toward precision medicine. CVD-related clinical trials and promising pre-clinical strategies that would significantly impact patients with CVD are discussed. Here, we review these recent advances, highlighting key clinical opportunities in the rapidly emerging field of CVD medicine.

Navigating the landscape of RNA delivery systems in cardiovascular disease therapeutics

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) stand as the leading cause of death worldwide, posing a significant global health challenge. Consequently, the development of innovative therapeutic strategies to enhance CVDs treatment is imperative. RNA-based therapies, encompassing non-coding RNAs, mRNA, aptamers, and CRISPR/Cas9 technology, have emerged as promising tools for addressing CVDs. However, inherent challenges associated with RNA, such as poor cellular uptake, susceptibility to RNase degradation, and capture by the reticuloendothelial system, underscore the necessity of combining these therapies with effective drug delivery systems. Various non-viral delivery systems, including extracellular vesicles, lipid-based carriers, polymeric and inorganic nanoparticles, as well as hydrogels, have shown promise in enhancing the efficacy of RNA therapeutics. In this review, we offer an overview of the most relevant RNA-based therapeutic strategies explored for addressing CVDs and emphasize the pivotal role of delivery systems in augmenting their effectiveness. Additionally, we discuss the current status of these therapies and the challenges that hinder their clinical translation.

The key role of miRNA in syndromic and sporadic forms of ascending aortic aneurysms as biomarkers and targets of novel therapeutic strategies

Increasing evidence shows that epigenetics also plays a key role in regulating the pathogenetic mechanism of all types of aortic aneurysms. It is well-known that epigenetic factors modulate gene expression. This mechanism appears to be of interest especially knowing the relevance of genetic susceptibility and genetic factors in the complex pathophysiology of aortic aneurysms, and of sporadic forms; in fact, the latter are the result of a close interaction between genetic and modifiable lifestyle factors (i.e., nutrition, smoking, infections, use of drugs, alcohol, sedentary lifestyle, etc.). Epigenetic factors include DNA methylation, post-translational histone modifications, and non-coding RNA. Here, our attention is focused on the role of miRNA in syndromic and sporadic forms of thoracic aortic aneurysms. They could be both biomarkers and targets of novel therapeutic strategies.

Research progress and application of the CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology based on hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is now a common cause of cancer death, with no obvious change in patient survival over the past few years. Although the traditional therapeutic modalities for HCC patients mainly involved in surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, which have achieved admirable achievements, challenges are still existed, such as drug resistance and toxicity. The emerging gene therapy of clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat/CRISPR-associated nuclease 9-based (CRISPR/Cas9), as an alternative to traditional treatment methods, has attracted considerable attention for eradicating resistant malignant tumors and regulating multiple crucial events of target gene-editing. Recently, advances in CRISPR/Cas9-based anti-drugs are presented at the intersection of science, such as chemistry, materials science, tumor biology, and genetics. In this review, the principle as well as statues of CRISPR/Cas9 technique were introduced first to show its feasibility. Additionally, the emphasis was placed on the applications of CRISPR/Cas9 technology in therapeutic HCC. Further, a broad overview of non-viral delivery systems for the CRISPR/Cas9-based anti-drugs in HCC treatment was summarized to delineate their design, action mechanisms, and anticancer applications. Finally, the limitations and prospects of current studies were also discussed, and we hope to provide comprehensively theoretical basis for the designing of anti-drugs.

Genome Editing Technology: A New Frontier for the Treatment and Prevention of Cardiovascular Diseases

Over the past two decades, genome-editing technique has proven to be a robust editing method that revolutionizes the field of biomedicine. At the genetic level, it can be efficiently utilized to generate various disease-resistance models to elucidate the mechanism of human diseases. It also develops an outstanding tool and enables the generation of genetically modified organisms for the treatment and prevention of various diseases. The versatile and novel CRISPR/Cas9 system mitigates the challenges of various GETs such as ZFNs, and TALENs. For this reason, it has become a ground-breaking technology potentially employed to manipulate the desired gene of interest. Interestingly, this system has been broadly utilized due to its tremendous applications for treating and preventing tumors and various rare disorders; however, its applications for treating CVDs remain in infancy. More recently, two newly developed GETs, such as base editing and prime editing, have further broadened the accuracy range to treat CVDs under consideration. Furthermore, recently emerged CRISPR tools have been potentially applied in vivo and in vitro to treat CVDs. To the best of our knowledge, we strongly enlightened the applications of the CRISPR/Cas9 system that opened a new window in the field of cardiovascular research and, in detail, discussed the challenges and limitations of CVDs.