Extracellular Vesicles for CRISPR Delivery
“The first study to successfully use extracellular vesicles (EVs) to deliver cargo into T cells offers a solution to the gene- and cell-therapy delivery problem. The system the team [at Northwestern University] used binds to target cells and effectively transfers drugs inside. Called GEMINI (Genetically Encoded Multifunctional Integrated Nanovesicles), the new platform comprises a suite of technologies for genetically engineering cells to produce multifunctional EVs. . . . . In proof-of-concept experiments by these researchers, the particles successfully delivered biological drugs—in this case CRISPR gene-editing agents that knocked out a receptor used by HIV—to T cells, which are difficult to target. The researchers hypothesize the system should work for many drugs and many types of cells.” MORE
Image Credit: Northwestern Now, Justin Muir