Viral infections in human are leading cause of mortality and morbidity across the globe. Several viruses (including HIV and Herpesvirus), have evolved ingenious strategies to evade host-immune system and persist life-long. Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated (Cas) is an ancient antiviral system recently discovered in bacteria that has shown tremendous potential as a precise, invariant genome editing tool. Using CRISPR-Cas based system to activate host defenses or genetic modification of viral genome can provide novel, exciting and successful antiviral mechanisms and treatment modalities. In this review, we will provide progress on the CRISPR-Cas based antiviral approaches that facilitate clearance of virus-infected cells and/or prohibit virus infection or replication. We will discuss on the possibilities of CRIPSR-Cas as prophylaxis and therapy in viral infections and review the challenges of this potent gene editing technology.

中文翻译：

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基于CRISPR-Cas的宿主和病毒基因靶向作为一种抗病毒策略。

人类的病毒感染是全球范围内死亡率和发病率的主要原因。几种病毒（包括HIV和疱疹病毒）已经进化出巧妙的策略来逃避宿主免疫系统并持续终生。簇状规则间隔的短回文重复序列（CRISPR）和CRISPR相关的（Cas）是一种古老的抗病毒系统，最近在细菌中被发现，已显示出作为精确，不变的基因组编辑工具的巨大潜力。使用基于CRISPR-Cas的系统激活病毒基因组的宿主防御或基因修饰可以提供新颖，令人兴奋和成功的抗病毒机制和治疗方式。在这篇综述中，我们将提供基于CRISPR-Cas的抗病毒方法的进展，该方法可促进清除病毒感染的细胞和/或禁止病毒感染或复制。