HIV CURED IN ANIMALS FOR FIRST TIME

Scientists claimed that they managed to almost eliminate HIV and Aids from infected mice, thus paving the way for a “promising cure”.

The researchers who removed HIV-1 provirus using a gene-editing technique called Crispr, admitted to some practical problems to be overcome. However, they claimed that their work was a “significant step” towards carrying out clinical trials on humans.

In the journal Molecular Therapy, the scientists described how some mice had been “humanised” after being given some human immune cells.

The researchers, from Temple University and Pittsburgh University in the US, wrote in the journal that this type of genome editing “provides a promising cure for HIV-1/Aids”.

Successful proviral excision was detected in the spleen, lungs, heart, colon, and brain after a single intravenous injection” of the gene-editing protein.

Apparent breakthroughs in animal models often encounter problems later in the process of developing a treatment for humans.

At the moment, drugs can stop HIV from replicating inside the body and producing Aids, but a latent reservoir of the virus remains.

This means that if the patient stops taking the drugs for whatever reason, they are likely to get the full-blown disease.

Big questions remain. How much of the latent reservoir do you need to target and will it work in humans?

— PROFESSOR JONATHAN BALL Nottingham University