HIV can defeat efforts to cripple it with CRISPR gene-editing technology, researchers say. And the very act of editing — involving snipping at the virus’s genome — may introduce mutations that help it to resist attack.
At least half a dozen papers over the past three years have explored using the popular CRISPR–Cas9 gene editing technique to combat HIV, but the latest finding, described in a study published on 7 April in Cell Reports1, adds to questions about the feasibility of the approach. However, the researchers involved say that the discovery is a minor setback that does not preclude the idea altogether.
https://www.nature.com/news/hiv-overcomes-crispr-gene-editing-attack-1.19712