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CRISPR/Cas13: A potential therapeutic option of COVID-19

Melika Lotfi1, Nima Rezaei2

  • 1School of Medicine, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran; Network of Immunity in Infection, Malignancy and Autoimmunity (NIIMA), Universal Scientific Education and Research Network (USERN), Tehran, Iran; USERN Office, Zanjan University of Medical Sciences, Zanjan, Iran.

Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy = Biomedecine & Pharmacotherapie
|November 6, 2020
PubMed

Insights

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper explores Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/Cas13 (CRISPR/Cas13) as a potential COVID-19 treatment, an option receiving limited attention.

Area of Science:

  • Biotechnology
  • Infectious Diseases
  • Molecular Biology

Background:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic, caused by SARS-CoV-2, presents a significant global health challenge with high mortality and morbidity.
  • Currently, no definitive treatments or vaccines are available for COVID-19, necessitating exploration of novel therapeutic strategies.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To discuss the potential application of CRISPR/Cas13 technology as a therapeutic intervention for COVID-19.
  • To highlight CRISPR/Cas13 as a less-explored but promising treatment option compared to existing strategies.

Main Methods:

  • Review and discussion of the mechanism of action for CRISPR/Cas13.
  • Analysis of the potential for CRISPR/Cas13 to target and neutralize SARS-CoV-2.
  • Exploration of the feasibility and challenges of implementing CRISPR/Cas13 as a clinical therapy.

Main Results:

  • CRISPR/Cas13 offers a programmable RNA-targeting system with potential antiviral capabilities.
  • The technology can be engineered to specifically recognize and degrade SARS-CoV-2 RNA, inhibiting viral replication.
  • Further research and development are needed to overcome delivery and specificity challenges for clinical application.

Conclusions:

  • CRISPR/Cas13 represents a novel and promising therapeutic avenue for managing COVID-19.
  • This technology warrants further investigation as a potential treatment to combat the ongoing pandemic.
Keywords:
COVID-19CRISPR/Cas13CRISPR/dead Cas13SARS-CoV-2Treatment

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