{"id":15541,"date":"2024-03-20T08:03:53","date_gmt":"2024-03-20T08:03:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/index.php\/2024\/03\/20\/scientists-report-remarkable-progress-in-eliminating-hiv\/"},"modified":"2024-03-20T08:03:53","modified_gmt":"2024-03-20T08:03:53","slug":"scientists-report-remarkable-progress-in-eliminating-hiv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/scientists-report-remarkable-progress-in-eliminating-hiv\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists report remarkable progress in eliminating HIV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists say they have successfully eliminated HIV from infected cells, using Nobel Prize-winning Crispr gene-editing technology.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Working like scissors, but at the molecular level, it cuts DNA so \u201cbad\u201d bits can be removed or inactivated.<\/p>\n

The hope is to ultimately be able to rid the body entirely of the virus, although much more work is needed to check it would be safe and effective.<\/p>\n

Existing HIV medicines can stop the virus but not eliminate it.<\/p>\n

The University of Amsterdam team, presenting a synopsis, or abstract, of their early findings at a\u00a0medical conference this week, stress their work remains merely \u201cproof of concept\u201d and will not become a cure for HIV any time soon.<\/p>\n

And Dr James Dixon, stem-cell and gene-therapy technologies associate professor at the University of Nottingham, agrees, saying the full findings still require scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\u201cMuch more work will be needed to demonstrate results in these cell assays can happen in an entire body for a future therapy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be much more development needed before this could have impact on those with HIV.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Extremely challenging\u2019<\/h2>\n

Other scientists are also trying to use Crispr against HIV.<\/p>\n

And Excision BioTherapeutics says after 48 weeks,\u00a0three volunteers with HIV\u00a0have\u00a0no serious side effects.<\/p>\n

But Dr Jonathan Stoye, a virus expert at the Francis Crick Institute, in London, said removing HIV from all the cells that might harbour it in the body was \u201cextremely challenging\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cOff-target effects of the treatment, with possible long-term side effects, remain a concern,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt therefore seems likely that many years will elapse before any such Crispr-based therapy becomes routine \u2013 even assuming that it can be shown to be effective.\u201d<\/p>\n

HIV infects and attacks immune-system cells, using their own machinery to make copies of itself.<\/p>\n

Even with effective treatment, some go into a resting, or latent, state \u2013 so they still contain the DNA, or genetic material, of HIV, even if not actively producing new virus.<\/p>\n

Most people with HIV need life-long antiretroviral therapy. If they stop taking these drugs, the dormant virus can reawaken and cause problems again.<\/p>\n

A rare few\u00a0have been apparently \u201ccured\u201d, after aggressive cancer therapy wiped out some of their infected cells, but this would never be recommended purely to treat HIV.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scientists say they have successfully eliminated HIV from infected cells, using Nobel Prize-winning Crispr gene-editing technology. Working like scissors, but at the molecular level, it cuts DNA so \u201cbad\u201d bits can be removed or inactivated. The hope is to ultimately be able to rid the body entirely of the virus, although much more work is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15541\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}