CCR5 editing by Staphylococcus aureus Cas9 in human primary CD4+ T cells and hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells promotes HIV-1 resistance and CD4+ T cell enrichment in humanized mice

The chemokine receptor CCR5, which belongs to the superfamily of G protein-coupled receptors, is the major co-receptor for HIV-1 entry. Individuals with a homozygous CCR5Δ32 mutation have a long lasting and increased resistance to HIV-1 infection. Therefore, CCR5 represents an optimal target for HIV-1/AIDS gene therapy. The CRISPR/Cas9 system has been developed as one of the most efficacious gene editing tools in mammalian cells and the small-sized version from Staphylococcus aureus (SaCas9) has an advantage of easier delivery compared to the most commonly used version from Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 (SpCas9).

This work provides an alternative approach to disrupt human CCR5 by CRISPR/SaCas9 for a potential gene therapy strategy against HIV-1/AIDS.

Here, we demonstrated that CCR5 could be specifically and efficiently edited by CRISPR/SaCas9 together with two sgRNAs, which were identified through a screening of 13 sgRNAs. Disruption of CCR5 expression by lentiviral vector-mediated CRISPR/SaCas9 led to increased resistance against HIV-1 infection in human primary CD4+ T cells. Moreover, humanized mice engrafted with CCR5-disrupted CD4+ T cells showed selective survival and enrichment when challenged with CCR5 (R5)-tropic HIV-1 in comparison to mock-treated CD4+ T cells. We also observed CCR5 could be targeted by CRISPR/SaCas9 in human CD34+ hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells without obvious differentiation deficiencies. Conclusions: This work provides an alternative approach to disrupt human CCR5 by CRISPR/SaCas9 for a potential gene therapy strategy against HIV-1/AIDS.