Applications of Genome Editing Technology in Research on Chromosome Aneuploidy Disorders

Abstract

Chromosomal segregation errors in germ cells and early embryonic development underlie aneuploidies, which are numerical chromosomal abnormalities causing fetal absorption, developmental anomalies, and carcinogenesis. It has been considered that human aneuploidy disorders cannot be resolved by radical treatment. However, recent studies have demonstrated that aneuploidies can be rescued to a normal diploid state using genetic engineering in cultured cells. Here, we summarize a series of studies mainly applying genome editing to eliminate an extra copy of human chromosome 21, the cause of the most common constitutional aneuploidy disorder Down syndrome. We also present findings on induced pluripotent stem cell reprogramming, which has been shown to be one of the most promising technologies for converting aneuploidies into normal diploidy without the risk of genetic alterations such as genome editing-mediated off-target effects.