ArticleNature communications2025
Cytotoxicity of activator expression in CRISPR-based transcriptional activation systems.
Article in Nature communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed.
- KSHV-encoded vIRF3 cooperates with cellular IRF4 to drive super-enhancer activity through complex DNA elements.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Yeast species resource exploration and application in cell factories.Synthetic and systems biotechnology · 2026Review
- Clinical translation of epigenome editing technologies.Current opinion in biomedical engineering · 2026Article
- Elucidating genes sufficient for viral entry into cells through sequential genome-wide CRISPR activation screens.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Epigenome Engineering Using dCas Systems for Biomedical Applications and Biotechnology: Current Achievements, Opportunities and Challenges.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
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Authors and funding
11 authors.
Funding
Abstract
CRISPR-based transcriptional activation (CRISPRa) has extensive research and clinical potential. Here, we show that commonly used CRISPRa systems can exhibit pronounced cytotoxicity. We demonstrate the toxicity of CRISPRa vectors expressing the activation domains (ADs) of the transcription factors p65 and HSF1, components of the synergistic activation mediator (SAM) CRISPRa system. Based on our findings for the SAM system, we extended our studies to additional ADs and acetyltransferase core domains. We show that the expression of potent transcriptional activators in lentiviral producer cells can lead to low lentiviral titers, while their expression in the transduced target cells leads to cell death. Using inducible lentiviral vectors, we could not identify an activator expression window for effective SAM-based CRISPRa without measurable toxicity. The toxicity of current SAM-based CRISPRa systems hinders their wide adoption in biomedical research and introduces selection pressures that may confound genetic screens. Our results suggest that the further development of CRISPRa technology should consider both the efficiency of gene activation and activator toxicity.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.