Evidence map›Paper›PMID 32882179›Full record

ArticleMolecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy2020

Valproic Acid Thermally Destabilizes and Inhibits SpyCas9 Activity.

Xinlai Cheng

Open access · bronzeAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Molecular therapy : the journal of the American Society of Gene Therapy, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed
0.6field-weighted citation impact, top 35% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Article
  2. A Chemically Induced CRISPR/dCas13Journal of medicinal chemistry · 2025
    Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

1 author at 1 institution in 1 country.

Xinlai ChengBuchmann Institute for Molecular Life Sciences, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, Goethe-University Frankfurt am Main, Max-von-Laue-Strasse 15, 60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany; Institute of Pharmacy and Molecular Biotechnology, Heidelberg University, Im Neuenheimer Feld 364, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Electronic address: cheng@pharmchem.uni-frankfurt.de.
Goethe University Frankfurt · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)-Cas9 system plays an important role in prokaryotic adaptive immunity. Due to its capacity for sequence-specific gene editing, CRISPR-Cas9 has become one of the most important tools widely used for genome editing in molecular biotechnology. However, its clinical application is currently limited by unwanted mutations at off-target sites. Various strategies have been developed for precise control of Cas9 in order to reduce these off-target effects, including chemical-based approaches. From a chemical screening, I observed that valproic acid (VPA) binds to and destabilizes Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpyCas9) protein in vitro, as well as in cells, while within its therapeutical concentration range under conditions of hyperthermia as demonstrated. Conditions were generated either by an external heat bag or in combination with the photothermal therapeutic agent indocyanine green activated by a near-infrared laser. Use of other histone deacetylase inhibitors failed, suggesting a histone deacetylase inhibition-independent function of VPA. Thus, this finding provides an uncomplicated thermotherapeutical approach for timely regulation of the activity of the CRISPR-Cas9 system at desired locations.

Indexed as

Hot TemperatureBacterial ProteinsCRISPR-Associated Protein 9CRISPR-Cas SystemsEnzyme ActivationEnzyme InhibitorsGene EditingIndocyanine GreenMutationProtein DenaturationProtein StabilityStreptococcus pyogenesValproic AcidBacterial ProteinsCRISPR-Associated Protein 9Enzyme InhibitorsIndocyanine GreenValproic AcidCas9 degraderCas9 inhibitorCRISPR-Cas9gene therapygenome editingoff-targetselectivitythermal stabilityvalproic acid

Identifiers

PMID32882179
PMCPMC7704752
OpenAlexW3080772011

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.