Application of CRISPR-Cas system in the diagnosis and therapy of ESKAPE infections

Yizheng Qian; Dapeng Zhou; Min Li; Yongxiang Zhao; Huanhuan Liu; Li Yang; Zhiqin Ying; Guangtao Huang

doi:10.3389/fcimb.2023.1223696

Application of CRISPR-Cas system in the diagnosis and therapy of ESKAPE infections

Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2023 Aug 17:13:1223696. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2023.1223696. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Yizheng Qian^{1

2}, Dapeng Zhou^{1

2

3}, Min Li^{1

2}, Yongxiang Zhao^{1

2}, Huanhuan Liu^{1

2}, Li Yang^{1

2}, Zhiqin Ying^{1

2}, Guangtao Huang^{1

2

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Burns and Plastic Surgery, Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, China.
² The Collaborative Innovation Center of Tissue Damage Repair and Regeneration Medicine of Zunyi Medical University, Zunyi, China.
³ Department of Burn Plastic and Wound Repair Surgery, The Affiliated Hospital of Youjiang Medical University for Nationalities, Baise, China.
⁴ Department of Burn and Plastic Surgery, Department of Wound Repair, Shenzhen Institute of Translational Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, Shenzhen, China.

Abstract

Antimicrobial-resistant ESKAPE (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species) pathogens represent a global threat to human health. ESKAPE pathogens are the most common opportunistic pathogens in nosocomial infections, and a considerable number of their clinical isolates are not susceptible to conventional antimicrobial therapy. Therefore, innovative therapeutic strategies that can effectively deal with ESKAPE pathogens will bring huge social and economic benefits and ease the suffering of tens of thousands of patients. Among these strategies, CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) system has received extra attention due to its high specificity. Regrettably, there is currently no direct CRISPR-system-based anti-infective treatment. This paper reviews the applications of CRISPR-Cas system in the study of ESKAPE pathogens, aiming to provide directions for the research of ideal new drugs and provide a reference for solving a series of problems caused by multidrug-resistant bacteria (MDR) in the post-antibiotic era. However, most research is still far from clinical application.

Keywords: CRISPR-Cas; ESKAPE; diagnosis; infection; pathogen; therapy.

Publication types

Review
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Acinetobacter baumannii* / genetics
Anti-Bacterial Agents / therapeutic use
CRISPR-Cas Systems
Cross Infection* / diagnosis
Enterococcus faecium*
Humans

Substances

Anti-Bacterial Agents

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 81960353 and 82172238).