applications of the CRISPR system in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases, A Review
applications of the CRISPR system in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases, A Review
Parvin Mohammadshafiei,1,*
1. Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, Iran
Introduction: Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) systems are a set of versatile gene-editing toolkit that perform diverse revolutionary functions in various fields of application such as agricultural practices, food industry, biotechnology, biomedicine, and clinical research. Specially, as a novel antiviral method of choice, CRISPR/Cas9 system has been extensively and effectively exploited to fight against human infectious viruses.
Emerging and relapsing infectious diseases pose a huge health threat to human health and a new challenge to global public health.
Since the 21st century, many emerging infectious diseases have emerged and spread in the world.
The early detection and timely diagnosis and treatment of emerging infectious diseases are of great significance to the prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases.
In recent years, diagnostic technologies based on Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-related proteins (Cas) have gradually matured, It has brought about significant changes in our diagnostic techniques.
This paper discusses the emerging use of CRISPR-Cas systems in the fields of clinical microbiology and infectious diseases with a particular emphasis on future prospects.
Methods: This study is reviewing data accumulated from literature and prestigious case studies which are in connection with our subject.The search words were:" Infectious diseases ,” “CRISPR gene editing ,” “Emerging infectious diseases,” “CRISPR-Cas, ”detection ”, “Single guide RNA (sgRNA),” Treatment ”, ” Application” using PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct and Google Scholar databases. Furthermore, manual searches of other relevant journals and keywords searches were performed. We have focused on published papers from 2010 to 2024.
Results: The CRISPR-Cas system represents a revolutionary tool in clinical microbiology and infectious diseases, offering innovative solutions to some of the most pressing challenges in healthcare today. Its applications range from advanced diagnostics to targeted therapies, particularly in the context of antimicrobial resistance. However, for CRISPR technology to realize its full potential, substantial advancements in delivery methods, safety, and ethical frameworks are essential. As research progresses, the integration of CRISPR into clinical practice holds the promise of transforming the landscape of infectious disease management and improving patient outcomes in the face of evolving microbial threats.
While most work has been performed in eukaryotes, CRISPR systems also enable tools to understand and engineer bacteria. CRISPR has given scientists a glimmer of hope in this area that can provide a novel tool to fight against antimicrobial resistance. This system can provide useful information about the functions of genes and aid us to find potential targets for antimicrobials
Conclusion: Infectious diseases impose an enormous burden worldwide, and new tools are needed to study underlying mechanisms and to diagnose accurately and to treat infections in all settings. CRISPR-Cas9 technology is advancing the understanding of microbe-host interactions as not previously possible and is being applied to develop new diagnostics for infectious diseases, adding to the existing armamentarium. Viral vectors, including adenoviruses and lentiviruses, may deliver a CRISPR construct to the target of interest, although concerns related to potential carcinogenesis and immunogenicity remain.To date, early investigations into CRISPR-based therapies targeting infectious diseases have focused on prevention and treatment of pathogenic drug-resistant bacteria and persistent viral infections. This is good news because these infections, including infections with multidrug-resistant bacteria, HIV, and HBV, significantly contribute to the global disease burden. Challenges remain beyond safe and effective delivery of CRISPR-based therapies for infectious diseases. Bacterial and viral plasticity may result in genetic polymorphisms of gRNA targets, rendering CRISPR-based therapies ineffective. PAM sequence mutations have also been shown to allow phages to escape CRISPR-Cas systems.Whether this can be addressed by packaging and delivering multiple gRNAs with diverse targets remains to be seen.Moving forward with CRISPR-Cas systems as treatments in the realm of infectious disease will require standardized methods for safe treatment delivery. If successful, an antibiotic resistance decolonization strategy, in which patients who are colonized with carbapenemase-producing organisms are given an oral formulation of a targeted CRISPR-Cas system aimed at removing resistant organisms from the gastrointestinal tract, thus positively restructuring the human microbiome, could be imagined. Safe and effective CRISPR-based therapies for persistent viral infections would remarkably change the global landscape of infectious diseases.