CRISPR/CAS9-based gene editing in cancer therapy: A systematic review and meta-analysis on current status and future directions

BACKGROUND: The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9) technology has recently been discovered for gene editing and cancer therapy and its applications are expanding. This review and meta-analysis aim to assess the present and future of CRISPR/Cas9 based gene editing in cancer treatment and the way forward. METHODS: The search was conducted in PubMed from 2015 to 2025 and 89 relevant studies were identified. The study design, CRISPR/Cas9 targets, delivery methods, therapeutic efficacy and limitations were extracted from the studies. RESULTS: We reviewed the efficacy, challenges, and potential for translation of CRISPR/Cas9 in oncogene and tumor suppressor gene targeting and immune modulation. Several preclinical researches showed that CRISPR/Cas9 mediated disruption of oncogenes or restoration of tumor suppressor genes led to significant tumor regression. The evaluation was also extended to off target effects and integration with immunotherapy. CONCLUSION: From the findings of this work, it can be concluded that CRISPR/Cas9 is a promising tool, but there are several limitations including off target effects, delivery systems and ethical issues that need to be solved in order to improve the clinical significance.