(Press-News.org) WILMINGTON, DEL. (November 14, 2025) – In a major step forward for cancer care, researchers at ChristianaCare’s Gene Editing Institute have shown that disabling the NRF2 gene with CRISPR technology can reverse chemotherapy resistance in lung cancer. The approach restores drug sensitivity and slows tumor growth. The findings appear today in the journal Molecular Therapy Oncology.
This breakthrough stems from more than a decade of research by the Gene Editing Institute into the NRF2 gene, a known driver of treatment resistance. The results were consistent across multiple in vitro studies using human lung cancer cell lines and in vivo animal models.
“We’ve seen compelling evidence at every stage of research,” said Kelly Banas, Ph.D., lead author of the study and associate director of research at the Gene Editing Institute. “It’s a strong foundation for taking the next step toward clinical trials.”
Potential Beyond Lung Cancer
The study focused on lung squamous cell carcinoma, an aggressive and common form of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that accounts for 20% to 30% of all lung cancer cases, according to the American Cancer Society. It’s estimated that over 190,000 people in the U.S. will be diagnosed in 2025.
While the research centered on this cancer type, the implications are broader. Overactive NRF2 contributes to chemotherapy resistance in several solid tumors, including liver, esophageal and head and neck cancers. The results suggest a CRISPR-based strategy targeting NRF2 could help resensitize a wide range of treatment-resistant tumors to standard chemotherapy.
“This is a significant step toward overcoming one of the biggest challenges in cancer therapy – drug resistance,” Banas said. “By targeting a key transcription factor that drives resistance, we’ve shown that gene editing can re-sensitize tumors to standard treatment. We’re hopeful that in clinical trials and beyond, this is what will allow chemotherapy to improve outcomes for patients and could enable them to remain healthier during the entirety of their treatment regimen.”
Targeting a Master Switch for Resistance
The research zeroed in on a tumor-specific mutation, R34G, in the NRF2 gene, which acts as a master regulator of cellular stress responses. When overactive, NRF2 helps cancer cells withstand chemotherapy.
Using CRISPR/Cas9, the team engineered lung cancer cells with the R34G mutation and successfully knocked out NRF2. This restored sensitivity to chemotherapy drugs such as carboplatin and paclitaxel. In animal models, tumors directly treated with CRISPR to knockout NRF2 grew more slowly and responded better to treatment.
“This work brings transformational change to how we think about treating resistant cancers,” said Eric Kmiec, Ph.D., senior author of the study and executive director of the Gene Editing Institute. “Instead of developing entirely new drugs, we are using gene editing to make existing ones effective again.”
Editing Reaches Threshold Levels
One of the most promising discoveries was that disrupting NRF2 in just 20% to 40% of tumor cells, was enough to improve the response to chemotherapy and shrink tumors. This insight is particularly relevant for clinical use, where editing every cancer cell may not be feasible.
To test therapy in mice, the researchers used lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), a non-viral method with high efficiency and low risk of unintended, off-target effects. Sequencing confirmed that the edits were highly specific to the mutated NRF2 gene, with minimal unintended changes elsewhere in the genome.
"The power of this CRISPR therapy lies in its precision. It's like an arrow that hits only the bullseye," said Banas. "This level of specificity with minimal unanticipated genomic side effects offers real hope for the cancer patients who could one day receive this treatment."
About the ChristianaCare Gene Editing Institute
The Gene Editing Institute at ChristianaCare is a worldwide leader in CRISPR gene editing technology. As the only institute of its kind based within a community health care system, the Gene Editing Institute has a unique opportunity to take a patient-first approach in all its research by working side by side with oncologists and other medical experts to improve the lives of people with cancer and inherited diseases. Since 2015, its researchers have led several ground-breaking firsts in the field that will help bring treatments to patients quickly and safely. As a wholly owned subsidiary of ChristianaCare, the Institute is positioned to fast-track new research discoveries to patients.
####
END
A University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka-led study has produced a detailed blueprint of a bacteriophage, furthering their potential in the fight against drug-resistant bacteria.
Lead author Dr James Hodgkinson-Bean, who completed his PhD in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, says bacteriophages are “extremely exciting” in the scientific world as researchers search for antibiotic alternatives to combat the increasing risk of antimicrobial resistance.
“Bacteriophage viruses are non-harmful to all multi-cellular life and able to ...
Singapore, 17 November 2025—A new study by researchers from Duke-NUS Medical School has revealed that almost all community-dwelling older adults with advanced dementia in Singapore experience at least one potentially burdensome intervention in their last year of life. The findings highlight an urgent need for new strategies to support families and reduce unnecessary interventions at the end of life.
Although the number of individuals living with dementia in the Asia-Pacific region is projected to rise to 71 million by ...
About a quarter of U.S. service members and veterans who start psychotherapy for post-traumatic stress disorder quit before they finish treatment. But not all therapies are equal in their appeal, with some effective approaches reporting the highest dropout rates, according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
PTSD affects about 7% of veterans at some point in their lives, slightly higher than the rate seen in the general U.S. adult population, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Beyond PTSD’s emotional impact, the American Heart Association notes that it can also ...
New research examines how social approval from different sources predicts relationship quality for intercultural couples. Researchers found that having supportive friends can be a powerful protective factor, especially when they face disapproval from family or society more broadly.
The research, published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, advances research on intercultural relationships by drawing on a large sample of people in such relationships. This sample allowed researchers to study how social approval varies across cultural backgrounds, racial pairing, relationship length, and gender.
“The results highlight that friends and family can play distinct roles: for example, ...
Vision is one of the most fundamental senses, shaping how we perceive, navigate and interact with the world around us. Yet for more than 12 million Americans living with visual impairments, even small deficits can profoundly impact daily life, limiting independence and overall quality of life.
Researchers have long recognized the potential of visual perceptual learning (VPL) – a process by which the brain improves its ability to detect subtle differences in visual stimuli, such as fine patterns or orientations – to enhance vision. VPL is already being explored ...
SEATTLE, WASH. — NOVEMBER 17, 2025 — Harnessing the muscle of one of the world’s fastest supercomputers, researchers have built one of the largest and most detailed biophysically realistic brain simulations of an animal ever. This virtual copy of a whole mouse cortex allows researchers to study the brain in a new way: simulating diseases like Alzheimer’s or epilepsy in the virtual world to watch in detail how damage spreads throughout neural networks or understanding cognition and consciousness. It simulates both form and function, with almost ten million neurons, 26 billion synapses, and 86 interconnected brain regions.
This spectacular achievement is the product ...
COLUMBUS, Ohio – A study using more than 27,000 sleep records of collegiate athletes provides the best evidence to date that early morning team practices take a toll on healthy sleep.
Researchers at The Ohio State University used data from wearable sleep trackers to measure sleep for 359 varsity athletes over five years.
They found that when male athletes had team practices that began before 8 a.m., they averaged about 30 minutes less sleep the night before when compared to later morning workouts. Female athletes averaged about 20 minutes less sleep.
Findings also showed evidence that ...
DALLAS, Nov. 17, 2025 — Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited heart disease and impacts an estimated 1 in 500 people in the U.S., according to the American Heart Association, a relentless force changing the future of health for everyone everywhere. Because many cases go undetected and untreated until acute symptoms occur, the Association is scaling up its efforts to improve diagnosis and treatment of HCM.
HCM is a thickening of the lower main pumping chamber of the heart (the left ventricle). ...
World COPD Day: Short of Breath, Think COPD
Appropriate diagnosis of COPD can have a very significant public health impact.
For Immediate Release
In support of World COPD Day on November 19, the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD), is drawing attention to the importance of correctly diagnosing COPD earlier - with the theme ‘Short of Breath, Think COPD’.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a preventable and treatable condition marked by breathlessness, chronic sputum ...
Research overview
A research team led by Associate Professor Tomoko Matsumoto from the Institute of Arts and Sciences at Tokyo University of Science, Japan, along with Associate Professor Daiki Kishishita and Associate Professor Atsushi Yamagishi, both from Hitotsubashi University, Japan, has demonstrated that providing people with information about the universal benefits of public goods significantly increases support for higher taxation. This finding reveals a new mechanism that could contribute to reducing inequality by expanding government size while maintaining tax progressivity.
The ...
