A modular strategy for extracellular vesicle-mediated CRISPR-Cas9 delivery through aptamer-based loading and UV-activated cargo release
CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology offers the potential to permanently repair genes containing pathological mutations. However, efficient intracellular delivery of the Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complex remains a major hurdle in its therapeutic application. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are biological nanosized membrane vesicles that play an important role in intercellular communication, and have an innate capability of intercellular transfer of biological cargos, including proteins and RNA. Here, we present a versatile, modular strategy for EV-mediated loading and delivery of Cas9. We leverage the high affinity binding of MS2 coat proteins fused to EV-enriched proteins to MS2 aptamers incorporated into guide RNAs, in combination with a UV-activated photocleavable linker domain, PhoCl. Moreover, we demonstrate that Cas9 can readily be exchanged for other variants, including transcriptional activator dCas9-VPR and adenine base editor ABE8e. Taken together, we describe a robust, modular strategy for successful Cas9 delivery, which can be applied for CRISPR-Cas9-based genetic engineering and transcriptional regulation.
Authors
- Esmeralda Bosman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1314-4065)
- Omnia M. Elsharkasy
- Charlotte V. Hegeman (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7095-8834)
- Xiuming Liang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0202-1211)
- Olaf L. Cotugno
- Antonio Garcia-Guerra (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1350-3558)
- Annet C. W. van Wesel
- Tom A. P. Driedonks (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0928-9712)
- Samir EL Andaloussi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4468-9113)
- Willemijn S. de Voogt (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0008-7876-5018)
- Raymond M. Schiffelers (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2423-209X)
- Enrico Mastrobattista (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6745-2015)
- Pieter Vader
- Juliet Lefferts (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7786-8575)
- Olivier G. de Jong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5952-9617)
- Sander A. A. Kooijmans (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8893-9578)
- Ivana Lansweers
- Ingmar Y. de Groot
- Niels J. A. Moorman
- Zoë E. M. N. J. de Wit
- Jerney J. J. M. François
- Sjoerd H. Boonstra
Institutions
- Karolinska University Hospital (SE)
- Utrecht University (NL)
- Karolinska Institutet (SE)
- University Medical Center Utrecht (NL)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Pharmo Institute (NL)
- Wilhelmina Children's Hospital (NL)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature Communications
- Published
- 2025-11-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-65995-3
- Citations
- 5
- Primary Topic
- Extracellular vesicles in disease
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 4.03