New method can cure AIDS with just one injection

The new study was conducted by a team of experts from Tel Aviv University, Israel, and published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

The authors propose a new AIDS treatment, which can be turned into a vaccine or a one-time course for HIV patients. They found that regulating the type B white blood cells in the patient's body helps to release a series of anti-HIV antibodies.

New hope for incurable disease

Over the past decades, many AIDS (or end-stage HIV) patients have improved with the use of drugs that have helped them transition from death to chronic disease. However, the scientific community is still searching for a drug that can permanently cure patients.

Dr. Barzel's laboratory, Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov), Tel Aviv University, has pioneered the development of a cure for HIV/AIDS after just one injection. His team uses genetically engineered type B white blood cells, which release neutralizing antibodies against the HIV virus that causes the disease.

B cells are white blood cells that make antibodies against viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens. Bone marrow is where B cells are formed. As they mature, B cells move into the bloodstream, lymphatic system, and other parts of the body.

Israeli scientists say that with their method, with just one injection, people with HIV/AIDS can be cured.

To date, only a few scientists have been able to make B cells outside the body. In the study, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, the Tel Aviv University team was the first to create desired antibodies outside the body.

Using genetic engineering, the virus carriers are designed not to harm the patient, but only carry the gene that codes for the antibody, inside the B cell. They can also precisely deliver the antibody into place. desired location in the B-cell genome.

In the study, all model animals when treated with this method had a relatively high blood level of antibodies and responses. The authors claim they have succeeded in producing the antibody from blood and ensuring it is effective in neutralizing the HIV virus in the laboratory dish.

Technology behind

The B-cell gene editing was performed by the authors using CRISPR technology. This is a technology that relies on bacteria's immune system to fight viruses. Bacteria use the CRISPR system as a kind of molecular 'search engine' to identify viral sequences, decay and neutralize them.

Biochemists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer Doudna have discovered a sophisticated defense mechanism that can reroute the cleavage of any selected DNA. Since then, the technology has been used to disable unwanted genes or repair or insert desired genes. The two researchers Doudna and Charpentier have been recognized internationally and become the winners of the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2020.

In their study, the Israeli team combined the ability of CRISPR to deliver genes into desired locations. As a result, they were able to redesign the B-cells inside the patient's body.

The authors expect this method to not only cure HIV but also many other dangerous diseases such as cancer caused by viruses, infectious diseases.

The authors used two viral carriers of the AAV family, one that codes for the desired antibody and the other that codes for the CRISPR system. When CRISPR cuts into the desired location in the B-cell genome, it directs the introduction of the desired gene. That is the gene that codes for antibodies against the HIV virus - the cause of AIDS.

Dr Barzel concluded: 'We have developed an innovative treatment that can defeat the virus with a single injection, with the potential to significantly improve the patient's condition. When engineered B cells encounter a virus, the virus stimulates and encourages them to divide. So we're using the very cause of the disease to fight it. Furthermore, if the virus changes, the B cells will also change to fight it. We have created the first drug that can evolve in the body and defeat the virus in the "arms race".

Based on this research, the authors hope that in the coming years, they can successfully produce drugs to treat AIDS and other infectious diseases or some types of cancer caused by viruses such as cervical cancer. Bowel cancer, head and neck cancer.