Gene editing: as a new treatment for hiv

Shaghayegh Ahmadi,1,*

Abstract


Introduction

Current treatments in hiv treatment don’t eliminate the low level of viral replication in latently infected cells, which contain integrated copies of hiv-1 proviral dna. recently, novel gene- and cell-based therapies have gained increasing attention due to their potential to provide a functional or even sterilizing cure for hiv infection. gene editing is a new technology that can be used to introduce targeted modifications into the genome. this technology is based on engineered nucleases and is now allowing more precise genetic manipulations. here we summarize the concept of gene editing-based hiv treatment and introduce the most frequently used gene editing techniques and clinical findings of ccr5 editing for hiv therapy.

Methods

In this review, all of the relevant studies were identified from reputable sites such as web of science, embas and pubmed to identify potentially eligible reports.

Results

Currently, there are three technologies for gene editing: zinc finger nucleases (zfns), transcription activator-like effector nucleases (talens), and clustered regularly interspaced palindromic repeats (crisprs) with crispr-associated (cas) nucleases. each of these systems is characterized by an adaptable sequence-specific dna binding domain and a nuclease domain that creates a double-strand cleavage. the sites specific dna binding domains of the zfn and talen systems are based on chimeric protein, whereas the crispr- cas system utilizes an rna molecule. the most well-studied candidate for anti-hiv genome editing is ccr5, an essential co-receptor for the majority of hiv strains.

Conclusion

The facile and versatile gene editing technology is growing rapidly and shows promise for successful development into novel therapeutic platforms for treating human genetic diseases, cancer, infectious diseases, in particular hiv.

Keywords

Hiv, gene, editing, crispr therapy, ccr5