2024-03-22 10:53:30
Using Crispr/Cas technology, HIV viruses are removed from cells using genetic scissors
March 22, 2024, 11:50 a.m
Diseases caused by HIV are among the most common causes of death worldwide. So far, infected people can be treated well with medication. However, a cure is only known in individual cases. But a research team is now taking a huge step towards getting there.
A research team from the Netherlands has succeeded for the first time in the laboratory in removing all traces of HIV viruses from cell cultures using the Crispr/Cas genetic scissors. In the future, the Nobel Prize-winning gene editing technology could help to cure people who have become infected with the so-called human immunodeficiency viruses, or HIV for short, and thus avert the risk of an outbreak of the immune deficiency disease AIDS. The results of Elena Herrera-Carrillo’s team from the Amsterdam University Medical Center represent “a significant breakthrough in the search for a cure for HIV,” it said in a message.
HI viruses are so-called retroviruses. These have the ability to transcribe their genetic material – the RNA – into DNA in the infected cell, which is then incorporated into the genome of the host cell. On the one hand, this makes it difficult for the immune system to fight HIV viruses. On the other hand, the incorporated viral DNA can be used as a template for the production of new virus particles. Although virus replication can be successfully suppressed with medication, viruses remain in some long-lived immune cells. If therapy is interrupted, the number of viruses increases again and with it the risk that infected people will develop AIDS. For this reason, researchers around the world are looking for a method that can cure people infected with HIV.
Hope for modern genetic technology
With the study results, which are to be presented at this year’s “European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases” in Barcelona, the research team shows a possible way forward. The Crispr/Cas gene editing technology makes it possible to make precise changes to the genome of living organisms. The technology can be used to specifically target and modify specific sections of DNA. This means: Unwanted genes are eliminated or replaced with other genetic material. That is why the process is often referred to as molecular scissors or genetic scissors.
Since HIV viruses can infect different cell and tissue types in the body, the research team decided to focus on HIV-infected immune cells, the so-called T cells. By focusing on specific segments that are common across all HIV strains, this approach aims to provide broad-spectrum therapy that can effectively combat multiple HIV variants. The method is also intended to effectively eliminate HIV viruses that are hidden in reservoirs in the body. This worked well in the lab.
Therapy approach against other viruses is also conceivable
“The work presented offers hope for further application of Crispr/Cas9 technology, not only for HIV, but possibly also for other viral diseases that represent a major public health problem worldwide,” says geneticist Alena Pance from the University of Hertfordshire, according to the Science Media Center Great Britain.
According to the authors, the findings of the study represent “decisive progress in the development of a healing strategy.” However, a lot of work is still needed to show that the results of these cell tests can work for future therapy throughout the body, says gene therapy expert James Dixon from the University of Nottingham, according to SMC.
1711107513
#CrisprCas #technology #viruses #removed #cells #genetic #scissors