Find a way to destroy HIV virus

American scientists have successfully eliminated the HIV virus in living animals using CRISPR gene editing technology.

In a newly published study, scientists at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine (LKSOM) at Temple University and the University of Pittsburgh (USA) said they were able to completely remove HIV DNA from human cells implanted in mice, and even prevent the virus from spreading.

This is the first time scientists have succeeded in completely eliminating the HIV virus in living animals, paving the way for future clinical trials in humans.

The most interesting thing about this study is that the subjects were “humanized” mice, which were transplanted with human immune cells (T cells) and infected with the HIV-1 virus.

Project leader Dr Wenhui Hu at LKSOM said that based on the team's previous studies, they were able to delete HIV-1 from the genome in tissues and completely eliminate the virus just one year later.

New research results have brought hope of curing the disease of the century. Photo: Shutterstock/vchal.

Specifically, the research team conducted experiments on three groups of mice.

The first group were mice infected with HIV-1, the second group were infected with EcoHIV (similar to human HIV-1), and the third group were “humanized” mice.

With the first group, the scientists managed to block the ability of HIV-1 to function and reduce the expression of viral genes' RNA by up to 95%, confirming their previous findings.

In the second group, EcoHIV was highly contagious and replicated rapidly. Dr. Khalili, a member of the research team, explained that during the acute phase of infection (also known as primary infection), HIV actively replicates. In EcoHIV-infected mice, CRISPR/Cas9 was able to block replication and spread, while eliminating 96% of the virus in the body. This is the first evidence of the ability to eliminate HIV-1 using the CRISPR/Cas9 system.

The third group were “humanized” mice that completely eliminated latent virus from their tissues and organs after just one CRISPR/Cas9 treatment.

New research marks a major step forward in finding a cure for HIV.

Scientists said that in the coming time, they will conduct research on primates, aiming at the ultimate goal of clinical trials in humans.

According to Zing