Lab experiment suggests CRISPR can disable and treat HIV

A new way to eradicate HIV from the body could one day become a cure for infection with the virus, but it has not yet been proven effective in humans.

The strategy uses a relatively new genetic technology called CRISPR, which can make cuts in DNA and introduce errors into the viral genetic material within immune cells. “These findings represent a vital advance toward the design of therapeutic strategies,” the researchers said. Elena Herrera Carrillo Researchers from the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands said in a statement.

HIV infection used to be almost always fatal, but now people with the virus can take drugs that stop the virus from replicating. Therefore, as long as you diligently take your medication every day, you can maintain a nearly normal lifespan.

But when a person is first infected, some of the virus inserts its DNA into immune cells, where it becomes dormant. When you stop taking your HIV medication, this DNA “reawakens” and the virus begins to spread again through your immune system.

For treatment, we need some way to kill the latent virus in the body. Several strategies have been tried, but so far none have been found to work.

The latest approach uses a gene editing system called CRISPR. Originally discovered in bacteria, it targets specific DNA sequences and makes cuts there. By changing the targeted DNA sequence, the system could be applied as a form of gene therapy for many conditions, and such treatments were launched in the US and UK last year as a treatment for sickle cell anemia. first approved.

Several groups are working with CRISPR to target HIV genes as a way to disable the dormant virus. Now, Carrillo and her team have shown that when tested on immune cells in a dish, the CRISPR system can neutralize all viruses and remove them from these cells. The work will be presented at European Conference on Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Next month in Barcelona, Spain.

Jonathan Stoy Researchers at London’s Francis Crick Institute say the results are encouraging, but the next step is testing in animals and eventually humans to ensure the treatment is available to all people with dormant HIV. The aim is to show that it can reach immune cells, he said. Some of these cells are thought to reside in the bone marrow, but other parts of the body may also be involved, he says. “There is still considerable uncertainty about whether there are other stores in other parts of the body,” he says.

A California company called Excision BioTherapeutics has previously shown that a CRISPR-based approach can: Reduce the amount of latent virus in monkeys infected with a virus similar to HIV.