According to the CDC, greater than 1.1 million people in the United States and more than 35 million people worldwide are infected with HIV-1. While the introduction of combined antiretroviral therapy, cART, has greatly improved survival rates among AIDS patients, a substantial portion of HIV-1 infected individuals remain at risk for the development of full blown AIDS as a result of reactivation of latently infected cells, partly due t nonadherence to medication and emergence of drug resistant viruses. Moreover, HIV-1 positive long term survivors continue to develop comorbidities including an accelerated aging process, neurocognitive disorders, heart failure, and others. From the virological point of view, as none of the current treatments suppress viral gene transcription, it is suspected that low, yet continuous, levels of viral early proteins with regulatory and pathogenic activities may contribute to the development of these quality of life threating illnesses. Sadly, none of the efforts toward the development of vaccines against HIV-1 have shown promising outcomes. Thus, curing of AIDS by eradicating the HIV-1 genome in infected subjects requires a novel strategy that is specific, highly effective, sustained, and irreversible. Recently, we have adapted a genetic approach using the clustered regulatory interspaced short palindromic repeat-assisted system (Cas) and a short complementary single-stranded RNA, called guide RNA or gRNA, which specifically targets the U3 region of the HIV-1 LTR promoter and precisely excises a segment of the viral regulatory sequence required for its expression. In addition, the employment of single and multiplex gRNA in our Cas system show promising results that include eradication of the entire HIV-1 genome in latently infected microglial cells, thus abrogating viral gene expression and transcription. Based on this preliminary observation, we propose to develop an RNA-guided Cas9 that acts as molecular scissors and, by disrupting various regions of the LTR and/or removing the entire viral genome, abrogates reactivation of the virus in macrophages, microglia and astrocytes which serve as the viral reservoir in the brain. Furthermore, we will explore the feasibility of our single and multiplex Cas9 system for use as a prophylactic compound in in vitro HIV-1 infection culture models. The outcome of this molecular genetic and virological approach will provide a solid platform for developing preclinical and clinical studies toward the treatment f AIDS and its associated neurological and neurobehavioral disorders.

Public Health Relevance

RNA guided HIV-1 cleavage by the Cas9 technology developed in our laboratories has shown promising efficacy in disrupting the HIV-1 genome in latently infected cells and suppressing viral replication. Thus, the development of a class of therapeutic compounds based on Cas9 can serve as a new avenue for the treatment of HIV-1 CNS disease.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
1R01NS087971-01
Application #
8736299
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1-AARR-D (50))
Program Officer
Wong, May
Project Start
2014-03-15
Project End
2017-01-31
Budget Start
2014-03-15
Budget End
2015-01-31
Support Year
1
Fiscal Year
2014
Total Cost
$389,167
Indirect Cost
$139,167
Name
Temple University
Department
Neurosciences
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
057123192
City
Philadelphia
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
19122
Zhang, Yonggang; Arango, Gustavo; Li, Fang et al. (2018) Comprehensive off-target analysis of dCas9-SAM-mediated HIV reactivation via long noncoding RNA and mRNA profiling. BMC Med Genomics 11:78
Khalili, Kamel; White, Martyn K; Jacobson, Jeffrey M (2017) Novel AIDS therapies based on gene editing. Cell Mol Life Sci 74:2439-2450
Yin, Chaoran; Zhang, Ting; Qu, Xiying et al. (2017) In Vivo Excision of HIV-1 Provirus by saCas9 and Multiplex Single-Guide RNAs in Animal Models. Mol Ther 25:1168-1186
White, Martyn K; Khalili, Kamel (2016) CRISPR/Cas9 and cancer targets: future possibilities and present challenges. Oncotarget 7:12305-17
Kaminski, Rafal; Chen, Yilan; Salkind, Julian et al. (2016) Negative Feedback Regulation of HIV-1 by Gene Editing Strategy. Sci Rep 6:31527
White, Martyn K; Kaminski, Rafal; Wollebo, Hassen et al. (2016) Gene Editing for Treatment of Neurological Infections. Neurotherapeutics 13:547-54
Yin, Chaoran; Zhang, Ting; Li, Fang et al. (2016) Functional screening of guide RNAs targeting the regulatory and structural HIV-1 viral genome for a cure of AIDS. AIDS 30:1163-74
White, Martyn K; Hu, Wenhui; Khalili, Kamel (2016) Gene Editing Approaches against Viral Infections and Strategy to Prevent Occurrence of Viral Escape. PLoS Pathog 12:e1005953
Kaminski, R; Bella, R; Yin, C et al. (2016) Excision of HIV-1 DNA by gene editing: a proof-of-concept in vivo study. Gene Ther 23:690-5
Kaminski, Rafal; Chen, Yilan; Fischer, Tracy et al. (2016) Elimination of HIV-1 Genomes from Human T-lymphoid Cells by CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing. Sci Rep 6:22555

Showing the most recent 10 out of 15 publications