Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41827871›Full record

ArticleCells2026

Prime Editing Exhibits Limited Genome-Wide Off-Target Effects in Cellular and Embryonic Gene Editing.

Jitan Zheng, Mingdi Wu, Xueyan Wang, Zhenrui Zuo, Chikai Zhou, Erwei Zuo, Yangqing Lu

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Cells, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
2citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

2 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors.

Jitan ZhengGuangxi Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding, Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.ORCID 0000-0003-4432-3306
Mingdi WuGuangxi Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding, Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
Xueyan WangShenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, State Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-Omics Technologies, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518000, China.
Zhenrui ZuoShenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, State Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-Omics Technologies, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518000, China.
Chikai ZhouShenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, State Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-Omics Technologies, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518000, China.ORCID 0000-0001-9653-3466
Erwei ZuoShenzhen Branch, Guangdong Laboratory for Lingnan Modern Agriculture, State Key Laboratory of Genome and Multi-Omics Technologies, Agricultural Genomics Institute at Shenzhen, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shenzhen 518000, China.
Yangqing LuGuangxi Key Laboratory of Animal Breeding, Disease Control and Prevention, College of Animal Science and Technology, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.

Funding

the Biological Breeding-Major Projects 2023ZD0405302 and 2023ZD04074the National Key Research and Development Program of China 2021YFD1300100 and 2024YFC3406001the National Natural Science Foundation of China 32371549 and W2533083
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Prime editing (PE) is a precise genome-editing technology that avoids double-strand breaks, holding great promise for clinical and agricultural applications. However, its genome-wide off-target effects are not fully understood, raising safety concerns. Here, we systematically compared the safety profiles of four prime editor variants (PE2max, PE3max, PE4max, and PE5max) using PEM-seq and RNA-seq. We further applied an ultra-sensitive method, Genome-wide Off-target analysis by Two-cell embryo Injection (GOTI), to assess PE5max. Our results show that PE5max did not produce detectable sgRNA-dependent off-target single-nucleotide variants (SNVs) in the GOTI assay and induced only limited large deletions and chromosomal translocations. Collectively, this side-by-side benchmarking under matched conditions demonstrates that PE5max achieves an improved specificity profile, with no detectable increase in genome-wide off-target SNVs, advancing its potential for safer therapeutic use.

Indexed as

Embryo, MammalianGene EditingAnimalsCRISPR-Cas SystemsGenomeHumansMicePolymorphism, Single NucleotideRNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas SystemsRNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systemsgene editingGOTIoff-target effectPEM-seqprime editing

Identifiers

PMID41827871
PMCPMC12984938

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.