SIGNIFICANCE: Sub-Saharan Africa is heavily burdened with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and helminth infections, which are potent activators of pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory immune responses, respectively. Considering that helminths (such as Necator americanus, Ancylostoma duodenale, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura, Schistosoma haematobium, and Schistosoma mansoni) can potentially dampen the production and expression of vital anti-viral pro-inflammatory cytokines, leading to enhanced HIV replication and severity, well-designed intervention studies are needed which will offer conclusive data on the nature of these interactions and the impact of deworming in HIV-infected patients. Such research will impact governmental health policies and deworming programmes, allowing for the implementation of integrated systems that will contribute to the overall improvement of African health systems

ABSTRACT Schistosomiasis is a neglected acute and chronic tropical disease caused by intestinal (Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma japonicum) and urogenital (Schistosoma haematobium) helminth parasites (blood flukes or digenetic trematodes). It afflicts over 250 million people worldwide, the majority of whom reside in impoverished tropical and subtropical regions in sub-Saharan Africa. Schistosomiasis is the second most common devastating parasitic disease in the world after malaria and causes over 200,000 deaths annually. Currently, there is no effective and approved vaccine available for human use, and treatment strongly relies on praziquantel drug therapy, which is ineffective in killing immature larval schistosomula stages and eggs already lodged in the tissues. The Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats/CRISPR associated protein 9 (CRISPR/Cas9)-mediated gene editing tool is used to deactivate a gene of interest to scrutinize its role in health and disease, and to identify genes for vaccine and drug targeting. The present review aims to summarize the major findings from the current literature reporting the usage of CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene editing to inactivate genes in S. mansoni (acetylcholinesterase (AChE), T2 ribonuclease omega-1 (ω1), sulfotransferase oxamniquine resistance protein (SULT-OR), and α-N-acetylgalactosaminidase (SmNAGAL)), and freshwater gastropod snails, Biomphalaria glabrata (allograft inflammatory factor (BgAIF)), an obligatory component of the life cycle of S. mansoni, to identify their roles in the pathogenesis of schistosomiasis, and to highlight the importance of such studies in identifying and developing drugs and vaccines with high therapeutic efficacy.