In the United States, about 1.1 million people live with HIV, a virus that attacks and destroys the immune cells that fight infection. Globally, 36.9 million people were living with HIV as of 2017.
Without treatment, HIV can severely damage the immune system and progress to AIDS, a life-threatening condition. Antiretroviral therapy (ART) stops the virus from multiplying, preserves immune function, and allows people with HIV to live long, healthy lives.
Focus on antiretroviral therapy
Today, doctors treat HIV with antiretroviral therapy (ART). This treatment stops the virus from making copies of itself, but it does not remove HIV from the body. People must take ART for life. If they stop, the virus quickly returns and can lead to AIDS.
HIV can come back because it hides inside certain cells. It inserts its DNA into these cells and stays inactive, out of reach of treatment. When ART stops, the virus wakes up and begins to multiply again. Because of this, ART alone cannot cure HIV. However, scientists are now exploring new approaches that could change that.
Progress toward a potential cure
In a major collaboration, researchers at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University and the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) have for the first time eliminated HIV from the DNA of living mice. This study marks a critical step toward the development of a possible cure for human HIV infection.
The team of researchers was able to do this with the help of a new technology called long-acting slow-effective release (LASER) ART. LASER ART is able to target HIV sanctuaries and maintain replication at low levels for extended periods of time. Immediately after administering LASER ART, the team used a gene editing technology known as CRISPR to remove the final remnants of HIV DNA hidden inside cells.
In a press release, Dr. Kamel Khalili, senior investigator for this study, was quoted as saying,
“Our study shows that treatment to suppress HIV replication and gene editing therapy, when given sequentially, can eliminate HIV from cells and organs of infected animals…We now have a clear path to move ahead to trials in non-human primates and possibly clinical trials in human patients within the year.”
The full results of this study were published in Nature Communications.
To learn more about how CRISPR technology works, you can read more about it on a previous blog post.
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