CRISPR is being significantly enhanced thanks to DNA-coated nanostructures, which improve the delivery and precision of gene editing, paving the way for safer genetic medicine.
Scientists from Northwestern University (USA) have developed a new nanostructure that greatly improves CRISPR’s ability to safely and effectively enter cells, potentially unlocking its full potential for treating genetic diseases. By wrapping CRISPR tools into spherical nanoparticles coated with DNA, researchers tripled the success rate of gene editing, improved precision, and dramatically reduced toxicity compared to existing methods. The study was published on September 5 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
While CRISPR gene-editing technology has the potential to revolutionize medicine, it’s difficult to deliver into disease-related tissues and cells. A new delivery system loads CRISPR into spherical nucleic acid (SNA) nanoparticles. These particles enter cells three times more effectively, triple gene-editing efficiency, and reduce toxicity compared to current techniques.
These nanostructures, called lipid nanoparticle spherical nucleic acids (LNP-SNAs), deliver the full CRISPR toolkit – Cas9 enzymes, guide RNA, and DNA repair templates – wrapped inside a dense, protective DNA shell. This DNA coating not only shields the cargo but also determines which organs and tissues the LNP-SNAs will travel to and facilitates their entry into cells.
In laboratory tests on various types of human and animal cells, LNP-SNAs entered cells up to three times more effectively than the standard lipid nanoparticles used in COVID-19 vaccines, caused significantly less toxicity, and increased gene-editing efficiency by threefold. The new nanostructures also improved the success rate of precise DNA repair by more than 60% compared to existing methods. This research paves the way for safer and more reliable genetic drugs and highlights the importance of the shape and structure of a nanomaterial—not just its components—in determining its effectiveness.