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    Home > Active Ingredient News > Infection > Nature sub-journal: New breakthroughs in AIDS research, CRISPR screening finds multiple new therapeutic targets

    Nature sub-journal: New breakthroughs in AIDS research, CRISPR screening finds multiple new therapeutic targets

    • Last Update: 2022-04-27
    • Source: Internet
    • Author: User
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    Written | Edited by Wang Cong | Typesetting by Wang Duoyu | Shui Chengwen AIDS (HIV) is the abbreviation of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, which is caused by HIV infection
    .

    HIV is a virus that can attack the human immune system.
    It takes the most important CD4+ T cells in the human immune system as the main target of attack, and destroys the cells in large quantities.
    After several years, even as long as 10 years or longer incubation period The development of AIDS patients will cause the body to lose its immune function.
    Due to the extreme decline in resistance, various infections will occur.
    In the later stage, malignant tumors often occur, and even systemic failure leads to death
    .

    According to the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, there are currently 38 million people living with HIV and AIDS worldwide, and the number is still growing rapidly
    .

    Since the first case of AIDS was discovered in 1981, scientists have been searching for a cure
    .

    But current antiretroviral therapy can only suppress the virus in patients, not completely remove it, so there is no cure
    .

    This is largely due to a poor understanding of how the HIV virus establishes infection in the human body.
    How exactly does this small virus with only 12 proteins hijack human cells to replicate itself and spread across systems? On April 1, 2022, a research team from the University of California, San Francisco and Northwestern University published a research paper entitled: A functional map of HIV-host interactions in primary human T cells in the journal Nature Communications
    .

    The study used CRISPR screening technology to identify and characterize genes in human blood that are important for HIV infection, and found 86 genes that may play an important role, more than half of which had not previously been found to play a role in HIV replication
    .

    More importantly, this study establishes a functional map of HIV virus-host interactions in human primary T cells, greatly advancing our understanding of how HIV virus integrates into the human genome and establishes chronic infection
    .

    Today's antiretroviral therapy is an important weapon against AIDS, and it is very effective in inhibiting the replication and spread of HIV virus, however, this treatment method cannot completely eliminate HIV virus, so it cannot achieve a cure
    .

    People living with HIV must adhere to strict treatment regimens and bear a huge medical burden
    .

    If we learn more about how the HIV virus replicates in human cells, it may be possible to develop a cure or drug for AIDS
    .

    Previous studies of HIV replication have often used human cancer cells as models, such as Hela cells, which, while easy to manipulate in the lab, are not perfect models of human blood cells
    .

    In addition, previous related studies usually use RNAi technology to inhibit the expression of certain genes or to screen related genes.
    RNAi cannot completely shut down gene expression, which leads to poor reproducibility of experimental results, and it is difficult to determine whether a gene is really involved in enhancing or Inhibits the replication of HIV virus
    .

    In this latest study, the research team used CRISPR screening technology.
    The research team performed CRISPR gene editing screening on T cells extracted from donated human blood, knocking out 426 genes found in previous studies that may be related to the HIV life cycle.
    These cells were then infected with HIV, and further analysis of which genes knocked out resulted in increased or decreased replication of HIV to systematically assess their functional role in HIV replication
    .

    This CRISPR screen identified 86 genes involved in HIV replication, 40 of which have been previously shown to play a role in HIV replication, demonstrating the reliability of the screening method
    .

    In addition, 46 genes have not previously been reported to play a role in HIV replication, broadening candidate genes for the development of new HIV treatments
    .

    The research team targeted the knockout of these genes in the blood-derived T cells of new donors to further verify the functional roles of the screened genes
    .

    Validation results showed that 55 of these 86 genes indeed play a functional role in HIV replication
    .

    Furthermore, the functional map of HIV virus-host interaction in primary human T cells was drawn
    .

    The research team said that the human genome will be further screened using CRISPR screening technology to identify and characterize all HIV-host interacting genes
    .

    Current antiretroviral therapy is a huge biomedical victory for AIDS treatment, but it is increasingly recognized that the inability to remove the HIV virus and the huge cost of long-term medication, so we urgently need to find a cure for AIDS
    .

    The mapping of HIV host factor function in primary human cells from this study is expected to open the door to the development of therapeutics and drugs based on HIV-host protein interactions
    .

    Paper link: https:// Open for reprinting, welcome to forward to Moments and WeChat groups 
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