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Applications of CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing technology in cardiac research

Haoran Liu, Yao Fu, Gui-Lan Chen

Cardiovascular diseases, especially those affect the heart, are main causes of the mortality of humans. Genetic variations play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of cardiac diseases, although acquired factors such as lifestyle habits and environmental factors are also involved. CRISPR/Cas9 system is a novel genome-editing tool which is more efficient and cost-effective than other gene-editing technologies. In recent years, this technology has been adopted in cardiac research such as generation of disease models, identification of novel disease-causing genes and exploration of gene therapies. There still remain obstacles in further application of CRISPR/Cas9 system, like the potential risk of off-target effect and ethical issues. In this review, we summarized the progress and prospect of the application of CRISPR/Cas9 system in experimental and preclinical studies of cardiac diseases.