Genome editing of PSIP1 gene encoding LEDGF/p75 protects TZM_bl GFP cells from HIV-1 infection

Gene therapy is a good way to cure HIV permanently. Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) infected cells depend on host-cell factors. LEDGF/p75 is a co-factor encoded by the PSIP1 gene and it interacts with HIV integrase to help the virus bind to host cells genome. If the PSIP1 gene is knocked out in the TZM-bI GFP cell line using CRISPR/Cas technology, the amount of HIV DNA integrated into the cell will be reduced due to the inability of HIV integrase to efficiently bind and integrate into the transcriptionally active regions of the host cell chromatin. The change in infectivity was observed by fluorescence microscopy and flow cytometry. The results show that KO PSIP1 may inhibit HIV infectivity. More experiments are needed to prove the reliability of this result.