RNA-guided endonuclease provides a therapeutic strategy to cure latent herpesviridae infection
Abstract
Latent viral infection is a major obstacle for effective antiviral treatment and presents a continuous risk to the host. The dormant viral genome during latent infection provides few therapeutic targets other than itself for antiviral drug development. This study demonstrates the clearance of latent Epstein-Barr virus genomes in a subpopulation of Burkitt's lymphoma patient-derived cells with clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat/Cas9 nuclease. Viral genome destruction leads to proliferation arrest and apoptosis in Epstein-Barr virus-infected cells, with no observed cytotoxicity to noninfected cells. Although many hurdles remain before this approach could be used in the clinic, this strategy may lead to a generalized approach to cure latent viral infections.
- Publication:
-
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science
- Pub Date:
- September 2014
- DOI:
- 10.1073/pnas.1410785111
- Bibcode:
- 2014PNAS..11113157W