Advances in the applications of CRISPR/Cas system for tumor molecular diagnostics

Precise tumor diagnosis and treatment require the support of abundant molecular information. However, conventional molecular diagnostic technologies gradually fail to satisfy the demands of clinical therapy due to limited detection performance. Benefiting from highly specific target sequence recognition and efficient cis/trans cleavage activity, CRISPR/Cas system has been widely employed to construct novel molecular diagnostic strategies, hailed as the "next-generation molecular diagnostic technology". This review focuses on recent advances in CRISPR molecular diagnostic systems for the detection of tumor variant gene, protein, and liquid biopsy biomarker, and outlines strategies for CRISPR in situ molecular detection. In addition, we explore general principles and development trends in the construction of CRISPR molecular diagnostic system and emphasize the revolutionary impact that it has brought to the field of molecular diagnostics.