Antiviral therapy of persistent viral infection using genome editing

Abstract

Chronic viral infections are often incurable because current antiviral strategies do not target chromosomally integrated or non-replicating episomal viral genomes. The rapid development of technologies for genome editing may possibly soon allow for therapeutic targeting of viral genomes and, hence, for development of curative strategies for persistent viral infection. However, detailed investigation of different antiviral genome editing approaches recently revealed various undesired effects. In particular, the problem of frequent and swift development of resistant viruses has to be thoroughly analysed before genome editing approaches become an established option for antiviral treatment.