Towards a CRISPR view of early human development: applications, limitations and ethical concerns of genome editing in human embryos

Alvaro Plaza Reyes; Fredrik Lanner

doi:10.1242/dev.139683

Towards a CRISPR view of early human development: applications, limitations and ethical concerns of genome editing in human embryos

Development. 2017 Jan 1;144(1):3-7. doi: 10.1242/dev.139683.

Authors

Alvaro Plaza Reyes¹, Fredrik Lanner²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, and Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset, Stockholm 14186, Sweden.
² Department of Clinical Science, Intervention and Technology, Karolinska Institutet, and Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset, Stockholm 14186, Sweden fredrik.lanner@ki.se.

PMID: 28049687
DOI: 10.1242/dev.139683

Abstract

Developmental biologists have become increasingly aware that the wealth of knowledge generated through genetic studies of pre-implantation mouse development might not easily be translated to the human embryo. Comparative studies have been fueled by recent technological advances in single-cell analysis, allowing in-depth analysis of the human embryo. This field could shortly gain more momentum as novel genome editing technologies might, for the first time, also allow functional genetic studies in the human embryo. In this Spotlight article, we summarize the CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system and discuss its potential applications and limitations in human pre-implantation embryos, and the ethical considerations thereof.

Keywords: CRISPR; Embryo; Ethics; Genome editing.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Animals
CRISPR-Cas Systems / genetics*
Embryo Research* / ethics
Embryo, Mammalian
Embryonic Development / genetics*
Gene Editing / ethics*
Gene Editing / statistics & numerical data*
Gene Editing / trends*
Humans