The herpes virus is unusually tenacious: it can hide from immunity and drugs, hiding in a state of rest in the so-called reservoirs, waiting for the moment when the human body weakens, and the virus can be activated. There is no cure for the herpes virus today. But, perhaps, CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing system will allow to cope with it, Hi-News.ru reported. Harvard Medical School staff tested this technology against the herpes virus. They succeeded in destroying viral reservoirs for the first time through intervention in the genome. It turned out that the DNA of an actively propagating virus is more exposed to the enzyme Cas9 at the time of the appearance of new viral copies.

Actively propagating viruses have fewer protective proteins called histones, and this is their weak point. A plus is the strict localization of the DNA of the virus, which allows you to leave healthy cells intact. According to scientists, the genome editing system is capable of disrupting the active reproduction of the virus in certain places, and this is relevant for both the active and the sleeping forms of the virus. It will look like this in this practice: if you need to cure, for example, an infected cornea, you can use the CRISPR-Cas9 editor directly in the nerve cells of the cornea, where viruses are contained, and 'clean' them from there.