Scientists claim to be able to cut the HIV virus from cells

The BBC reported that scientists announced that they had successfully removed the HIV virus from infected cells, using Crispr gene editing technology that won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Crispr gene editing technology works like scissors but at the molecular level. This "scissors" has the ability to cut DNA and remove or inactivate bad "components" , which can cut out the HIV virus.

Still needs careful consideration

Currently, HIV treatment drugs can prevent but not completely eliminate the virus. The team from the University of Amsterdam just presented a summary of the initial findings at a medical conference, emphasizing that the results are just to demonstrate the feasibility of an idea and will not become a reality any time soon. method to cure HIV.

Scientists hope to eventually completely eliminate the HIV virus from the body, although many further steps will be needed to test whether this method is safe and effective - (Photo: Aidsmap).

Scientists hope to eventually completely eliminate the HIV virus from the body, although many further steps will be needed to test whether this method is safe and effective.

Dr. James Dixon, associate professor of stem cell technology and gene therapy at the University of Nottingham, agrees. He said the full findings still need to be scrutinized.

"More work will be needed to demonstrate whether the results in these cell tests can occur across the whole body, for a future treatment. More development is needed first." When using this method it affects people with HIV," Mr. Dixon said.

Extremely challenging

Other scientists are also trying to use Crispr to fight HIV. Biopharmaceutical company Excision BioTherapeutics based in San Francisco (USA) said that after 48 weeks of testing, three HIV-infected volunteers did not experience serious side effects.

But Dr Jonathan Stoye, a virus expert at the Francis Crick Institute (London), emphasized that eliminating HIV from all the cells that could harbor it in the body is "extremely challenging".

"Off-target effects of treatment, with possible long-term side effects, remain a concern," Stoye warned.

"It therefore seems likely that it will be many years before any treatment based on Crispr technology becomes widespread, even assuming the method is proven to be effective," he added. .

HIV infects and attacks cells of the immune system, then makes copies. Even with effective treatment, some will enter a dormant state. So they still contain HIV DNA, or genetic material, even when not actively producing new viruses.

Most people infected with HIV need lifelong antiretroviral treatment. If you stop taking the medication, the dormant virus can become active again and cause health problems.

Some rare cases appear to have been "cured", after using cancer therapy to actively kill some infected cells, but this is never recommended solely for the treatment of cancer. HIV treatment.

In 2020, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences announced the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry to two female scientists Emmanuelle Charpentier and Jennifer A. Doudna who discovered one of the sharpest tools of gene editing technology, it's CRISPR/Cas9.

Diseases using CRISPR/Cas9 that are being tested in clinical trials include cancer, sickle cell anemia, ß-thalassemia, and even HIV infection.

CRISPR/Cas9 is a system that is likened to the bacterial immune system to fight infection with foreign DNA molecules from viruses or other plasmids. Scientists apply CRISPR/Cas9 to design a system to edit genomic DNA at will.