Abstract
The CRISPR/Cas9 system has been applied in the genome editing and disruption of latent infections for herpesviruses such as the herpes simplex virus, Epstein–Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. CRISPR/Cas9-directed mutagenesis can introduce similar types of mutations to the viral genome as can bacterial artificial chromosome recombination engineering, which maintains and reconstitutes the viral genome successfully. The cleavage mediated by CRISPR/Cas9 enables the manipulation of disease-associated viral strains with unprecedented efficiency and precision. Additionally, current therapies for herpesvirus productive and latent infections are limited in efficacy and cannot eradicate viruses. CRISPR/Cas9 is potentially adapted for antiviral treatment by specifically targeting viral genomes during latent infections. This review, which focuses on recently published progress, suggests that the CRISPR/Cas9 system is not only a useful tool for basic virology research, but also a promising strategy for the control and prevention of herpesvirus latent infections.
Highlights
Diseases caused by viruses are difficult to treat due to the high viral mutation rate and latent infections
We focus on the therapy of herpesviruses such as herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) [1]
The results showed the elimination of EBV genome in a quarter of the cells, and half of the cells showed a decrease in viral load after clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9 treatment
Summary
Diseases caused by viruses are difficult to treat due to the high viral mutation rate and latent infections. It is almost impossible to eradicate latent viruses in the human host. We focus on the therapy of herpesviruses such as herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1), herpes simplex virus 2 (HSV-2), Epstein–Barr virus (EBV), cytomegalovirus (CMV), and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) [1]. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas nuclease system [2,3], a genome editing technology, represents a novel and exciting possibility for the treatment of herpesvirus infections in recent studies [4]. We briefly describe the characteristics of herpesviruses and the CRISPR/Cas system
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