CRISPR-Cas13a Inhibits HIV-1 Infection

Overview

Journal Mol Ther Nucleic Acids

Publisher Cell Press

Date 2020 Jun 26

PMID 32585623

Citations 39

Authors

Lijuan Yin

Fei Zhao

Hong Sun

Zhen Wang

Yu Huang

Weijun Zhu

Fengwen Xu

Shan Mei

Xiaoman Liu

Di Zhang

Liang Wei

Shan Cen

Siqi Hu

Chen Liang

Fei Guo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

CRISPR-Cas provides bacteria and archaea with immunity against invading phages and foreign plasmid DNA and has been successfully adapted for gene editing in a variety of species. The class 2 type VI CRISPR-Cas effector Cas13a targets and cleaves RNA, providing protection against RNA phages. Here we report the repurposing of CRISPR-Cas13a to inhibit human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection through targeting HIV-1 RNA and diminishing viral gene expression. We observed strong inhibition of HIV-1 infection by CRISPR-Cas13a in human cells. We showed that CRISPR-Cas13a not only diminishes the level of newly synthesized viral RNA, either from the transfected plasmid DNA or from the viral DNA, which is integrated into cellular DNA, but it also targets and destroys the viral RNA that enters cells within viral capsid, leading to strong inhibition of HIV-1 infection. Together, our results suggest that CRISPR-Cas13a provides a potential novel tool to treat viral diseases in humans.

Citing Articles

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