Applications of CRISPR-Cas-Based Genome Editing Approaches Against Human Cytomegalovirus Infection

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a globally ubiquitous herpesvirus with the ability to carry out both lytic productive and lifelong latent infections, is a major cause of congenital infections, often leading to intellectual disabilities and neurological disorders. Moreover, HCMV is an opportunistic pat...

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Main Authors: Andra Zhang, Isadora Zhang, Fenyong Liu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-06-01
Series:Biomedicines
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/13/7/1590
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author Andra Zhang
Isadora Zhang
Fenyong Liu
author_facet Andra Zhang
Isadora Zhang
Fenyong Liu
author_sort Andra Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a globally ubiquitous herpesvirus with the ability to carry out both lytic productive and lifelong latent infections, is a major cause of congenital infections, often leading to intellectual disabilities and neurological disorders. Moreover, HCMV is an opportunistic pathogen commonly found in immunocompromised individuals such as organ transplant recipients, HIV-positive individuals, and cancer patients, causing severe and life-threatening complications. While effective in inhibiting viral lytic infection, current FDA-approved compounds cannot eliminate the latent viral genome and have little effect on viral latent infection. Developing novel antiviral therapeutic approaches to eliminate HCMV lytic and latent infections is a major public health priority for controlling HCMV infection and preventing viral-associated diseases. The genome-editing technology based on the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) RNA-guided nuclease system represents a novel and promising antiviral approach through modifying or destroying the genetic material of human viruses. This review summarizes the recently published progress in using the CRISPR-Cas approach to study and inhibit HCMV infections and discusses prospects for developing the CRISPR-based genome-editing technology for therapeutic applications against HCMV infection and associated diseases.
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spelling doaj-art-397f8cbe0ef04bfba55d6e919096ed212025-08-20T04:00:49ZengMDPI AGBiomedicines2227-90592025-06-01137159010.3390/biomedicines13071590Applications of CRISPR-Cas-Based Genome Editing Approaches Against Human Cytomegalovirus InfectionAndra Zhang0Isadora Zhang1Fenyong Liu2School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USASchool of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USASchool of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USAHuman cytomegalovirus (HCMV), a globally ubiquitous herpesvirus with the ability to carry out both lytic productive and lifelong latent infections, is a major cause of congenital infections, often leading to intellectual disabilities and neurological disorders. Moreover, HCMV is an opportunistic pathogen commonly found in immunocompromised individuals such as organ transplant recipients, HIV-positive individuals, and cancer patients, causing severe and life-threatening complications. While effective in inhibiting viral lytic infection, current FDA-approved compounds cannot eliminate the latent viral genome and have little effect on viral latent infection. Developing novel antiviral therapeutic approaches to eliminate HCMV lytic and latent infections is a major public health priority for controlling HCMV infection and preventing viral-associated diseases. The genome-editing technology based on the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (Cas) RNA-guided nuclease system represents a novel and promising antiviral approach through modifying or destroying the genetic material of human viruses. This review summarizes the recently published progress in using the CRISPR-Cas approach to study and inhibit HCMV infections and discusses prospects for developing the CRISPR-based genome-editing technology for therapeutic applications against HCMV infection and associated diseases.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/13/7/1590clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)CRISPR-associated protein (Cas)cytomegalovirusherpesvirusgenome-editinggene-editing
spellingShingle Andra Zhang
Isadora Zhang
Fenyong Liu
Applications of CRISPR-Cas-Based Genome Editing Approaches Against Human Cytomegalovirus Infection
Biomedicines
clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)
CRISPR-associated protein (Cas)
cytomegalovirus
herpesvirus
genome-editing
gene-editing
title Applications of CRISPR-Cas-Based Genome Editing Approaches Against Human Cytomegalovirus Infection
title_full Applications of CRISPR-Cas-Based Genome Editing Approaches Against Human Cytomegalovirus Infection
title_fullStr Applications of CRISPR-Cas-Based Genome Editing Approaches Against Human Cytomegalovirus Infection
title_full_unstemmed Applications of CRISPR-Cas-Based Genome Editing Approaches Against Human Cytomegalovirus Infection
title_short Applications of CRISPR-Cas-Based Genome Editing Approaches Against Human Cytomegalovirus Infection
title_sort applications of crispr cas based genome editing approaches against human cytomegalovirus infection
topic clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)
CRISPR-associated protein (Cas)
cytomegalovirus
herpesvirus
genome-editing
gene-editing
url https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9059/13/7/1590
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