Crispr/Cas: An Emerging Genome Editing Tool To Combat Viral Infections In Humans

Volume 8, Issue 1
Srirama P Bhat, Shobha G
Published online: 26 July 2022
Article Views: 25

Abstract
Viral infection is one of the major health concerns of humans and animals around the globe. Only a few selected treatments are available to treat viral infections/diseases. Even though vaccination is one of the preventive measures to combat viral infections, it is not available or possible for most of the viruses we know today. “Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) is an RNA mediated adaptive immune system of bacteria and archaea” that provides immunity against viruses, and humans can exploit this biological mechanism to combat viral infections in humans and animals. The “CRISPR technology,” a gene editing tool, unlike Zinc Finger Nucleases and Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases, does not require the engineering of any kind of protein to work. As a result, CRISPR technology can be an effective tool to combat human viral infections. This review focuses on the outcome of various researchers’ attempts to edit genes in humans capable of providing resistance against many deadly human pathogenic viruses such as “Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV),” “Coronavirus disease,” and “Herpesvirus.” Although CRISPR/Cas technology is in the developmental stage, it looks like a promising emerging technology in the present scenario.
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