Researchers eliminated HIV from the DNA of infected mice. It’s the first step toward a cure for humans, they say – CNN

To eliminate the remaining infective cells from the subject’s DNA, they employed a gene editing tool called CRISPR-Cas9.
The process allowed the teams to “clean segments of the genome” and remove the HIV chromosome, co-author Kamel Khalili told CNN.
By the study’s end, researchers had successfully eliminated the virus from nine out of 23 mice.

The results prove that HIV can be eliminated, researchers say

The two labs initially began their research separately: Howard Gendelman at UNMC pursued trials with LASER ART, while Khalili at Temple University had been tampering with CRISPR technology for five years.
They combined their efforts to attempt complete elimination of the virus. And their lofty goal required a unique approach.
Khalili said he treated HIV as a genetic disease: Once the virus infects a subject, the viral genome enters into the chromosome and becomes a “bad gene,” he said.
Combination therapy was a prime way to attack HIV from both angles: Slow its spread first with LASER ART, then edit it out completely with CRISPR.
To confirm they’d eradicated the virus, a process that took years, Gendelman told CNN the team examined every “nook and cranny” of the mice’s tissue where infected cells may lurk.
The results are proof that elimination of HIV is possible—but they’re just a first step, not a leap straight to cure, he cautioned.
“We’re landing on the moon,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you made it to Mars yet.”
Khalili’s labs have been working on a version of the study with primates, though it’ll take between 9 months to one year to discern if the virus is eradicated. A paper based on the short-term results of gene editing in primates could be published within the year, he said.
If their methods continue to prove successful, clinical trials could follow as soon as next summer, he said.

Recent attempts to cure HIV have sparked hope

Hope for a cure swelled in March when researchers announced a second person had been effectively rid of HIV after a stem cell transplant successfully eliminated any trace of the virus from his blood.
Both patients, known as the London and Berlin patients, were treated with stem cell transplants from donors born with the CCR5 genetic mutation that made them resistant to the virus. The men, already infected with HIV, were diagnosed with forms of cancer when they received the treatment.
The London patient had been in sustained remission for 18 months at the time the article was published, researchers said.
In 2018, an HIV vaccine concept got the go-ahead for further testing after a study found it induced an immune response in humans and monkeys. Its effectiveness in protecting humans from the virus is still unknown.

This content was originally published here.



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