CRISPR/Cas9: a powerful genetic engineering tool for establishing large animal models of neurodegenerative diseases

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Zhuchi Tu, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Weili Yang, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Sen Yan, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xiangyu Guo, Chinese Academy of Sciences; Xiao-Jiang Li, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2015-12
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © Tu et al. 2015
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13024-015-0031-x
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Molecular Neurodegeneration
• ISSN: 1750-1326
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Grant/Funding Information: This work was supported by the National Key Basic Research Program of China (2012CBA01304), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB13000000), and the State Key Laboratory of Molecular Developmental Biology, China.
• Keywords: CRISPR/Cas9; Non-human primates; Neurodegenerative diseases; Animal model
• Research Categories: Biology, General; Biology, Neuroscience

Abstract

Neurodegenerative diseases — Alzheimer’s disease(AD),Parkinson’s disease(PD), amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Huntington’s disease (HD), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) — are characterized by age-dependent and selective neurodegeneration. As the life expectancy of humans lengthens, there is a greater prevalence of these neurodegenerative diseases; however, the pathogenesis of most of these neurodegenerative diseases remain unclear, and we lack effective treatments for these important brain disorders.