Novel CRISPR-Cas strategies against HIV infection

A CRISPR-Cas based strategy is considered a powerful approach in the gene editing field. It was already successfully implemented in clinic trials for the treatment of genetic diseases and other disorders. The ability of CRISPR-Cas tools to induce precise DNA changes has considerable potential to cure diseases and may thus become a critical component of modern medicine. Inactivating the viral reservoir is the major goal of an HIV cure. CRISPR-Cas strategies are able to directly attack the proviral HIV DNA, thus providing promising molecular tools to inactivate the integrated provirus. In this thesis, we tested novel CRISPR-Cas strategies (Cas12a/b) to target the HIV provirus in cell culture infections (in vitro) and evaluated the potential challenge posed by the size of the CRISPR-Cas transgene when it has to be delivered by a lentiviral vector (LV).