By performing a genome-wide CRISPR screen on the Corona virus (SARS-CoV-2), U.S. researchers identified novel proviral genes and pathways, and highlighted host genes that may regulate coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pathogenesis, as well as revealing potential targets for novel treatment approaches. ▪️As no vaccines or approved therapeutics are currently available for disease control, the ongoing pandemic of COVID-19 represents a significant risk for public health systems around the world. This can be extended to other emerging coronaviruses, which we have already encountered (such as the original SARSCoV and MERS-CoV), or the ones that pose a threat for the future. ▪️The identification of host factors that enable the infection process is of utmost importance to inform COVID-19 pathogenesis mechanisms, reveal host susceptibility variations, but also to identify new hostdirected therapies with broad efficacy. ▪️Hence, to uncover host genes necessary for SARSCoV-2 infection and cell death, the researchers from Yale, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, lcahn School of Medicine, and the University of Texas generated a completely novel CRISPR library and pursued the first genome-wide CRISPR screen with SARS-CoV-2. ▪️By highlighting an array of proviral and antiviral host genes, this study has substantial implications for our understanding of COVID-19 pathogenesis, treatment, and vaccine design - most notably by revealing potential therapeutic targets for SARS-CoV-2. Credit: Tomislav Mestrovic, News-Medical.Net
