A genome-wide CRISPR screen identifies a restricted set of HIV host dependency factors

Host proteins are essential for HIV entry and replication and can be important nonviral therapeutic targets. Large-scale RNA interference (RNAi)-based screens have identified nearly a thousand candidate host factors, but there is little agreement among studies and few factors have been validated. He...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Park, Ryan J, Koundakjian, Dylan, Hultquist, Judd F, Lamothe-Molina, Pedro, Monel, Blandine, Schumann, Kathrin, Yu, Haiyan, Krupzcak, Kevin M, Garcia-Beltran, Wilfredo, Piechocka-Trocha, Alicja, Krogan, Nevan J, Marson, Alexander, Hacohen, Nir, Walker, Bruce D, Wang, Tim, Sabatini, David, Lander, Eric Steven
Other Authors: Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Medical Engineering & Science
Format: Article
Published: Nature Publishing Group 2018
Online Access:http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/116682
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4227-5163
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1446-7256
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Summary:Host proteins are essential for HIV entry and replication and can be important nonviral therapeutic targets. Large-scale RNA interference (RNAi)-based screens have identified nearly a thousand candidate host factors, but there is little agreement among studies and few factors have been validated. Here we demonstrate that a genome-wide CRISPR-based screen identifies host factors in a physiologically relevant cell system. We identify five factors, including the HIV co-receptors CD4 and CCR5, that are required for HIV infection yet are dispensable for cellular proliferation and viability. Tyrosylprotein sulfotransferase 2 (TPST2) and solute carrier family 35 member B2 (SLC35B2) function in a common pathway to sulfate CCR5 on extracellular tyrosine residues, facilitating CCR5 recognition by the HIV envelope. Activated leukocyte cell adhesion molecule (ALCAM) mediates cell aggregation, which is required for cell-to-cell HIV transmission. We validated these pathways in primary human CD4 + T cells through Cas9-mediated knockout and antibody blockade. Our findings indicate that HIV infection and replication rely on a limited set of host-dispensable genes and suggest that these pathways can be studied for therapeutic intervention.