• Using of CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas system against Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)
  • Minoo Momenzadeh,1 Mohammad Amin Talebpour,2,* Fatemeh Shamee,3
    1. School of Medicine, Mashhad Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
    2. School of Medicine, Mashhad Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran
    3. School of Medicine, Mashhad Islamic Azad University, Mashhad, Iran


  • Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) first time broke out in Wuhan, China, and quickly grew into a global pandemic. The virus causing COVID-19 resembles severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV), therefore, it was termed SARS-CoV-2 by the International Committee on Taxonomy of Viruses (ICTV). The use of CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats)-Cas technology has been identified as a part of adaptive immune system in archaea and bacteria against the virus infections and its applications in humans were found later. Therefore the aim of this study is to investigate the potential use and challenges of CRISPR-Cas-based approaches for possible treatment to combat COVID-19.
  • Methods: This review was performed within articles published at PubMed, Google scholar and Embase from 2019 to 2021. The keywords were CRISPR / Cas system , COVID-19 and Therapy. By searching this database,79 articles were found, 23 of them were not related with investigating and 15 of them by reading abstract were removed. All articles chosen from English articles.
  • Results: Finally 41 articles were included in the study. Some studies said that The development of therapeutic drugs against RNA viruses is a great challenge as favourable mutations keep on accumulating in their genome, leading to the development of antiviral resistance. the therapeutic effect of antiviral drugs has not achieved the expected effect, and symptomatic treatment is still the main treatment at present. In some studies, new antiviral therapy has been developed using CRISPR-Cas technology to treat HIV patients and has been said to be safe because it does not cause any side effects for the next 19 months. A Cas 13 strategy based on the corona virus has been developed that can be used as a treatment, although according to some studies, it may face significant challenges in human clinical trials.
  • Conclusion: The CRISPR / Cas system is a promising tool for the development of therapeutics to eliminate viral infections, although to date no CRISPR-based therapy has been approved for human use. Further studies are suggested to evaluate the potential risks associated with using CRISPR for clinical antiviral therapy.
  • Keywords: CRISPR / Cas system , COVID-19 , Therapy