Developing New Molecular-Targeted Therapeutics, ‘from Gene to Drug'
Jyoti Kundu, Monika Sihmar · 2025
Oncoviruses are found to be evidently responsible in approximately 20% of all human malignancies, which include human papillomavirus (HPV), human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8), human T-cell lymphotropic virus-1 (HTLV-1), hepatitis B and C viruses (HBV and HCV), Merkel cell polyomavirus (MCPyV), and the Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Inside the host cell, virus exists as naked nucleic acid, either in the free form of a plasmid or integrated in the host genome as episome or provirus. Similarly, like other prominent parasites, oncoviruses have the property of establishing latency and integrating into the host genome. These properties pose a therapeutic challenge for biomedical researchers. So, a big arsenal of gene-based targeted therapy can be a futuristic approach for combating the oncoviruses. Recently, clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/CRISPR-associated protein (CRISPR-Cas) has emerged as a powerful genome editing tool. Being a highly accurate and effective anti-oncovirus technique, CRISPR-Cas has been widely used in contemporary molecular medicine experiments, especially to combat infections that cause tumor-inducing viruses. Consequently, a large arsenal of tailored gene therapy may be a potential strategy to attack oncoviruses. Standing out as a precise and efficient anti-oncoviruses method, it has been extensively applied in recent experimental ventures in the field of molecular medicine, particularly in combating infections including tumor-inducing viruses.