mmalabanan
Researchers at the Temple University School of Medicine in Philadelphia have discovered a way to totally eliminate HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus) from the human DNA.
The breakthrough could possibly provide a cure for other latent infections and is considered the first successful attempt to delete latent HIV-1 virus from human cells.
“This is one important step on the path toward a permanent cure for AIDS. It’s an exciting discovery, but it’s not yet ready to go into the clinic. It’s a proof of concept that we’re moving in the right direction,” explained Dr. Kamel Khalili, Professor and Chair of the Department of Neuroscience at Temple.
In order to delete the HIV-1 proviral DNA, a combination of a DNA-snipping enzyme known as nuclease and a targeting strand of RNA known as guide RNA (gRNA) track the viral genome and delete the HIV-1 DNA. The team of researchers engineered a 20-nucletide strand of gRNA to hunt down the HIV-1 DNa paired with a DNA-snipping enzyme known as Cas9 and used to edit the human genome. The cell’s gene repair machinery then takes over to solder the loose ends of the genome back together. As a result, the cells become virus-free.
“We want to eradicate every single copy of HIV-1 from the patient. That will cure AIDS. I think this technology is the way we can do it,” said Dr. Khalili.
In the future, these molecular tools could be potentially used to make a vaccine.
Affecting more than 33 million people worldwide, HIV makes an affected individual susceptible to diseases such as cardiomyopathy, bone disease, neurocognitive disorders as well as kidney disease.
