Development of CRISPR as an Antiviral Strategy to Combat SARS-CoV-2 and Influenza.
Journal Article (Journal Article)
The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has highlighted the need for antiviral approaches that can target emerging viruses with no effective vaccines or pharmaceuticals. Here, we demonstrate a CRISPR-Cas13-based strategy, PAC-MAN (prophylactic antiviral CRISPR in human cells), for viral inhibition that can effectively degrade RNA from SARS-CoV-2 sequences and live influenza A virus (IAV) in human lung epithelial cells. We designed and screened CRISPR RNAs (crRNAs) targeting conserved viral regions and identified functional crRNAs targeting SARS-CoV-2. This approach effectively reduced H1N1 IAV load in respiratory epithelial cells. Our bioinformatic analysis showed that a group of only six crRNAs can target more than 90% of all coronaviruses. With the development of a safe and effective system for respiratory tract delivery, PAC-MAN has the potential to become an important pan-coronavirus inhibition strategy.
Full Text
Duke Authors
Cited Authors
- Abbott, TR; Dhamdhere, G; Liu, Y; Lin, X; Goudy, L; Zeng, L; Chemparathy, A; Chmura, S; Heaton, NS; Debs, R; Pande, T; Endy, D; La Russa, MF; Lewis, DB; Qi, LS
Published Date
- May 14, 2020
Published In
Volume / Issue
- 181 / 4
Start / End Page
- 865 - 876.e12
PubMed ID
- 32353252
Pubmed Central ID
- PMC7189862
Electronic International Standard Serial Number (EISSN)
- 1097-4172
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
- 10.1016/j.cell.2020.04.020
Language
- eng
Conference Location
- United States