i-CRISPR: a personalized cancer therapy strategy through cutting cancer-specific mutations

Developing a strategy to specifically kill cancer cells without inducing obvious damage to normal cells may be of great clinical significance for cancer treatment. In the present study, we developed a new precise personalized strategy named "i-CRISPR" for cancer treatment through adding DNA damage repair inhibitors(i) and inducing cancer cell-specific DNA double strand breaks by CRISPR. Through in vitro and in vivo experiments, we confirmed the efficacy of this strategy in multiple cancer models and revealed the mechanism of cell death. Our strategy might provide a novel concept for precise cancer therapy. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12943-022-01612-x.