Development of Genome Editing Approaches against Herpes Simplex Virus Infections

Herpes simplex virus 1 (HSV-1) is a herpesvirus that may cause cold sores or keratitis in healthy or immunocompetent individuals, but can lead to severe and potentially life-threatening complications in immune-immature individuals, such as neonates or immune-compromised patients. Like all other herpesviruses, HSV-1 can engage in lytic infection as well as establish latent infection. Current anti-HSV-1 therapies effectively block viral replication and infection. However, they have little effect on viral latency and cannot completely eliminate viral infection. These issues, along with the emergence of drug-resistant viral strains, pose a need to develop new compounds and novel strategies for the treatment of HSV-1 infection. Genome editing methods represent a promising approach against viral infection by modifying or destroying the genetic material of human viruses. These editing methods include homing endonucleases (HE) and the Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR associated protein (Cas) RNA-guided nuclease system. Recent studies have showed that both HE and CRISPR/Cas systems are effective in inhibiting HSV-1 infection in cultured cells in vitro and in mice in vivo. This review, which focuses on recently published progress, suggests that genome editing approaches could be used for eliminating HSV-1 latent and lytic infection and for treating HSV-1 associated diseases.