receptor T) cell therapies and gene therapy and can be re-injected into the patients for

therapeutic or prophylactic uses in complex genetic disorders.

17.3.1 Ex Vivo Applications

17.3.1.1 Alternative Approach to Viral Vector Delivery of CRISPR/Cas-9

in Animal and Plant Cells

Recently, CRISPR/Cas9 has emerged as a unique genome editing tool that enables

researchers to edit parts of the genome by deleting, modifying, adding, or inserting

desired DNA sequences. Although virus transduction is being used extensively in

delivery of CRISPR/Cas-9 in various organisms, they have some disadvantages,

such as the risk of cytotoxicity, immunogenicity, expensive large-scale production,

limited insertion size, and risk of integrating viral sequences into the target genome

(Glass et al. 2018). Therefore, nonviral delivery systems for CRISPR/Cas9 are a

promising alternative. Magnetofection has proved to be better than electroporation,

Fig. 17.3 Magnetofection increases the transfection efficiency. Magnetic nanoparticles are mixed

with the nucleic acids or other drugs and added to the cell culture plates, and a strong magnetic field

is applied under the tissue culture plates with a magnet. This helps in overcoming resistance by cell

membrane for hard to transfect cells lines leading to rapid uptake of magnetic nanoparticles by the

cells and release of coated drug inside the cells

17

Targeted Gene Delivery Through Magnetofection: The New Face of Medicine

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