From Genetic Engineering News, March 28, 2022 Researchers at InBio (formerly Indoor Biotechnologies), a biotechnology company in Virginia, report on progress toward developing a hypoallergenic cat – or at least treating patients with cat allergies – in a new article published online on The CRISPR Journal. Magazine dedicated to the excellent research and commentary of all aspects of CRISPR research and gene processing. Credit: Mary Ann Publications, Inc., publishers About 15 percent of the population suffers from allergies to domestic cats, something that researchers have previously shown to be largely attributed to what the Atlantic called “a disastrous little protein” – an allergen called Fel d 1 that is eliminated by all the cats. In the new study, Nicole Brackett and colleagues at InBio performed a bioinformatics analysis of the Fel d 1 gene from 50 domestic cats to identify conserved coding regions suitable for CRISPR processing. Further comparisons with genes in eight exotic feline species revealed a high degree of differentiation, suggesting that Fel d 1 is not necessary for cats. The researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 to disrupt the high-performance Fel d 1. “Our data suggest that Fel d 1 is a viable and viable candidate for gene deletion, which can greatly benefit cat allergy sufferers by removing the major allergen at source,” the authors write. The study paves the way for further experiments investigating the use of CRISPR as a possible genetic therapy to inhibit the release of allergens in cats. Reference: March 28, 2022, The CRISPR Journal.
