Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) systems are a set of versatile gene-editing toolkit that perform diverse revolutionary functions in various fields of application such as agricultural practices, food industry, biotechnology, biomedicine, and clinical research. Specially, as a novel antiviral method of choice, CRISPR/Cas9 system has been extensively and effectively exploited to fight against human infectious viruses. Infectious diseases including human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), human papillomavirus (HPV), and other viruses are still global threats with persistent potential to probably cause pandemics. To facilitate virus removals, the CRISPR/Cas9 system has already been customized to confer new antiviral capabilities into host animals either by modifying host genome or by directly targeting viral inherent factors in the form of DNA. Although several limitations and difficulties still need to be conquered, this technology holds great promises in the treatment of human viral infectious diseases. In this review, we will first present a brief biological feature of CRISPR/Cas9 systems, which includes a description of CRISPR/Cas9 structure and composition; thereafter, we will focus on the investigations and applications that employ CRISPR/Cas9 system to combat several human infectious viruses and discuss challenges and future perspectives of using this new platform in the preclinical and clinical settings as an antiviral strategy.

Laboratory and clinical studies have revealed the importance of gut microbiota in children with severe pediatric pathological conditions such as severe acute malnutrition (SAM); however, under relatively milder conditions such as, failure to thrive (FTT), the role of the gut microbiota remains poorly characterized. Here, we analyzed stool samples from 54 subjects with a clinical diagnosis of failure to thrive (FTT), 49 preterm subjects with corrected normal growth (NFTT-pre), and 49 healthy subjects (NFTT) between 3-12 months of age using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. We observed that the clinical condition of FTT, age, head circumference, intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR), and feeding methods significantly affected gut microbiota. The microbiota age of subjects was significantly correlated with their anthropomorphic features, and the FTT subjects exhibited underdeveloped gut microbiota characterized by a significantly decreased microbiota-for-age Z-score (MAZ). The FTT and NFTT-pre groups exhibited an obvious disrupted developmental trajectory of gut microbiota across age, and the development of their alpha diversities and the observed OTU and Shannon indices were inadequate, particularly in subjects with FTT. Moreover, sequential colonization and enrichment of bacteria such as Bacteroides, Bifidobacterium, Streptococcus and most age-discriminatory bacterial taxa and their microbial functions were disorganized in FTT compared to that in NFTT. Our results revealed an underdevelopment of the gut microbiota in infants with failure to thrive that possesses potential clinical and practical importance.

KAT6A syndrome is an autosomal dominant genetic disorder associated with intellectual disability due to mutations in the lysine acetyltransferase 6A ( KAT6A) gene. There are some differences in phenotype between KAT6A gene variants. This current case report describes a 1-month-old male infant that had a nonsense mutation in the KAT6A gene. Neither of his parents had the mutation. The proband had feeding difficulties and a physical examination revealed the following: moderate dysphagia, hypoplastic laryngeal cartilage, poor audio-visual response, poor head-up ability, no active grasping awareness, microcephaly, high arched palate and he was significantly behind other children of the same age. Echocardiography showed that the foramen ovale was not closed. He was diagnosed with atrial septal defect (ASD) when 2 years old. The patient received ASD repair at 32 months of age. Head colour Doppler ultrasonography and brain magnetic resonance imaging showed cysts in the right ventricle and choroid plexus, which returned to normal at 2 years of age. This current case demonstrates that immediate surgery should be considered in newborns with KAT6A syndrome presenting with a heart malformation. A new KAT6A syndrome phenotype is described in this current case report, which requires early diagnosis and treatment.