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Hashizume et al.

2026-06-15 · 14:33 UTC ·@aakashgupta ·0 min read

Brief

Hashizume et al. (2025) demonstrate allele-specific, multiple-site CRISPR-Cas9 cleavage can remove the extra chromosome 21 in cultured trisomy 21 iPSCs and fibroblasts, achieving 13.1% elimination initially and ~30.6% after optimization; the study is presented as an in vitro proof-of-concept and is contextualized against an estimated ~37.2 trillion cells in the human body.

Why it matters

Hashizume et al. (2025) report allele-specific multi-site CRISPR-Cas9 cleavage achieving trisomic rescue in trisomy 21 cells with 13.1% elimination in initial experiments and up to ~30.6% after optimization, demonstrated in iPSCs and fibroblasts.

Key details

  • The work is characterized as an in vitro proof-of-concept (EurekAlert!, Feb 18, 2025); no in vivo or clinical application is claimed.
  • Human body cell count cited for context is ~37.2 trillion cells (Bianconi et al., 2013), underscoring scale differences between cultured-cell results and whole-organism interventions.
Source evidence

Sources:

Hashizume, R., et al. (2025). Trisomic rescue via allele-specific multiple chromosome cleavage using CRISPR-Cas9 in trisomy 21 cells. PNAS Nexus, 4(2), pgaf022. (mechanism; 13.1% elimination, ~30.6% optimized; iPSCs and fibroblasts)

EurekAlert! (2025, Feb 18). Using CRISPR to remove extra chromosomes in Down syndrome. (characterized as an in vitro proof-of-concept study)

Bianconi, E., et al. (2013). An estimation of the number of cells in the human body. Annals of Human Biology, 40(6), 463-471. (~37.2 trillion cells)