In the past two decades, genome editing has proven its value as a powerful tool for modeling or even treating numerous diseases. After the development of protein-guided systems such as zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs) and transcription activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), which for the first time made DNA editing an actual possibility, the advent of RNA-guided techniques has brought about an epochal change. Based on a bacterial anti-phage system, the CRISPR/Cas9 approach has provided a flexible and adaptable DNA-editing system that has been able to overcome several limitations associated with earlier methods, rapidly becoming the most common tool for both disease modeling and therapeutic studies. More recently, two novel CRISPR/Cas9-derived tools, namely base editing and prime editing, have further widened the range and accuracy of achievable genomic modifications. This review aims to provide an overview of the most recent developments in the genome-editing field and their applications in biomedical research, with a particular focus on models for the study and treatment of cardiac diseases.
Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; base editing; cardiac disease; genome editing; prime editing.