HIV Cure News 2017: Researchers Use Gene-Editing Strategy to Eliminate HIV in Live Animals
There has yet to be a cure for the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes the life-threatening condition of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). The good news is that researchers continue to work around the clock in order to find a cure for HIV/AIDS. The latest discovery deals with the potential use of gene-editing to eliminate HIV infection.
In a new study published by Molecular Therapy, scientists from Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh demonstrated the possibility of excising HIV-1 DNA from living animals to eliminate further infection. It builds upon the team's previous proof-of-concept study, wherein they demonstrated a strategy that could delete HIV-1 fragments in most tissues of experimental animals.
The study, which is said to be the first of its kind, tested the concept in three different animal models, one of which were mice transplanted with human cells and subsequently infected with the virus. The team used a recombinant adeno-associated viral (rAAV) vector delivery system to transport the gene-editing strategy known as CRISPR/Cas9.
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Apart from measuring HIV-1 RNA levels, a bioluminescence imaging system was used to find out the real-time location of infected cells to determine if the gene-editing strategy was successful in significantly reducing HIV-1 reservoirs.
According to the findings, the gene-editing strategy was able to block viral replication and potentially prevent systemic infection in mice with EcoHIV, the mouse equivalent of human HIV-1, by 96 percent.
Although the study was done on mice, it is able to provide evidence in the feasibility of using the CRISPR/Cas9 system to eradicate HIV-1 infected cells. The team acknowledged that there's still a long way to go before this particular strategy can be used on humans.
"The next stage would be to repeat the study in primates, a more suitable human model where HIV infection induces disease, in order to further demonstrate elimination of HIV-1 DNA in latently infected T cells and other sanctuary sites for HIV-1, including brain cells," said Kamel Khalili, Ph.D.
The researcher added that the subsequent goal would be to conduct a clinical trial on human patients.
