Three novel host genes essential for HIV infection through CRISPR gene editing technologies

A study published in Nature Genetics shows that US scientists have identified three novel host genes that are essential for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection through CRISPR / Cas9 gene editing technologies and recombinant human proteins, providing potential treatment target for HIV infection.

On December 19, a research team from the Whitehead Institute, the Broad Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published a study on Nature and Genetics that using CRISPR / Cas9 to screen for novel host genes that were essential for HIV infection. The lack of these genes will make the host cell resistant to HIV infection, but it will not affect the normal function of cells.

AIDS is a very harmful infectious disease from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. HIV can attack the body's immune system and greatly damage the immune system, the most important CD4 T lymphocytes, blocking the immune process and leading to the immune system paralysis. Then the body is susceptible to various diseases and malignant tumors, and the mortality is high. The current anti-HIV drug targeting virus protein, because HIV mutation speed is very fast, so it is very easy to show drug-resistant HIV virus. It is difficult to develop HIV-specific vaccine. Therefore, the development of new drugs to target the host genes necessary for HIV infection is a potential method for the treatment of AIDS.

Researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology to establish a T cell bank. In this T cell bank, the researchers targeted more than 18,500 genes based on the CRISPR-Cas9 method, and most of these genes were human protein-coding genes. When these genes were inactivated one after the other, the team used HIV to infect T cells and screened genes that could induce cell resistance to HIV infection and did not affect the normal functioning of cells.

Finally, through a large-scale screening, the research team received a total of five essential HIV genes for HIV infection. The two genes, CD4 and CCR5, were found to be closely related to HIV infection in previous studies. There are three new host genes identified, TPST2 and SLC35B2 are the genes encoding enzyme and can be modified by CCR5 and HIV binding; ALCAM involves in cell adhesion. In subsequent functional trials and experiments in normal T cells, the team found that when CD4-positive T cells were infected with low concentrations of HIV, ALCAM deletion could allow T cells to be immunized against HIV infection. Through the validation of these three genes, the researchers pointed out that these three genes are expected to become a new target for the treatment of HIV infection.

Through the CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technique, this study screened new host genes that are essential for HIV infection, providing a potential therapeutic target for HIV infection and providing a new direction for the development of new drugs for HIV / AIDS. The researchers believe that this method also applies to the identification of other viral pathogens therapeutic targets. CRISPR / Cas9 gene editing technology has shown great potential in a range of gene therapy applications. We also look forward to early adoption of CRISPR / Cas9 technology to treat AIDS, bringing gospel to AIDS patients! Flarebio offers superior recombinant proteins and antibodies such as NES Monoclonal Antibody for your research.