Thanks to Nobel-awarded genetic scissors the scientists cut out HIV from cells and gave hope for the future.
Human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, is a virus that attacks the body’s immune system and it can lead to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome at Amsterdam UMC, Netherlands, and shared before this year’s The authors explained that the CRISPR-Cas genome editing tool provides a new means to target HIV DNA. They aim to develop a robust and safe combinatorial CRISPR-Cas regimen, striving for an inclusive ‘HIV cure for all’ that can inactivate diverse HIV strains across various cellular contexts.
Their focus was on parts of the virus genome that stay the same across all known HIV strains and cure HIV-infected T cells. This approach aims to provide a comprehensive therapy able to fight multiple HIV variants effectively.T-cells are part of the immune system and develop from stem cells in the bone marrow. According to previous studies, when T-helper cells or CD4 cells, the immune system can’t find and destroy it. It then makes copies of itself, leading to the death of CD4 cells.
Even though they dealt with logistic difficulties, and the challenge of targeting HIV reservoir cells that became active again when HIV antiretroviral treatment was halted, the team was able to target those hidden HIV reservoir cells thanks to experimentation with different techniques. The use of the CRISPR-Cas technique helped them to eliminate HIV from infected cells. This is of particular significance as medications cannot eliminate the virus, hinting at a hopeful future.
“We have developed an efficient combinatorial CRISPR-attack on the HIV virus in various cells and the locations where it can be hidden in reservoirs, and demonstrated that therapeutics can be specifically delivered to the cells of interest. These findings represent a pivotal advancement towards designing a cure strategy.” the scientists noted.Their next steps involve optimizing the delivery route to target the majority of the HIV reservoir cells.
“This strategy is to make this system as safe as possible for future clinical applications. We hope to achieve the right balance between efficacy and safety of this CURE strategy. Only then can we consider clinical trials of ‘cure’ in humans to disable the HIV reservoir. While these preliminary findings are very encouraging, it is premature to declare that there is a functional HIV cure on the horizon,” the researchers concluded.
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