TY - JOUR AU - Xing Hui AU - Meng Ling-hua PY - 2020 TI - CRISPR-cas9: a powerful tool towards precision medicine in cancer treatment JF - Acta Pharmacologica Sinica; Vol 41, No 5 (May 2020): Acta Pharmacologica Sinica Y2 - 2020 KW - N2 - Cancer is a highly heterogeneous disease in term of molecular signature even though it is originated from the same tissue type. Cancer heterogeneity may occur during its development or treatment, which is the main cause resulting in drug resistance and recurrence. Precision medicine refers to matching the right medicine to the right patients based on their molecular signatures. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the mechanism of tumorigenesis and drug resistance is essential to precision medicine. CRISPR-cas9 system is a powerful tool for gene editing and CRISPR-based high-throughput screening has been widely applied especially in searching for tumor-driven or synergistic lethal genes aiming to overcome drug resistance. In this review, we describe the progress of CRISPR-cas9-based unbiased screening in precision medicine including identiļ¬cation of new drug targets, biomarkers and elucidation of mechanisms leading to drug resistance. The existing challenges as well as the future directions are also discussed. UR - http://www.chinaphar.com/article/view/10131