Scientists say they can cut HIV out of cells | BBC News

Summary

Scientists have made a breakthrough in combating HIV using the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology, which has won the Nobel Prize. The goal is to completely eradicate the virus from the body. While current treatments can manage HIV and prevent AIDS, they cannot eliminate the virus entirely. The CRISPR method aims to cut out the virus from cells, targeting its latent reservoir. Although experiments are still in the cellular stage, there is optimism about its potential in future treatments. Challenges remain, such as understanding the scale of the viral reservoir and determining the extent of elimination needed for a cure.

Takeaways

• 🔬 Scientists have used CRISPR gene-editing technology to eliminate HIV from infected cells in an experimental setting.
• 💊 Current HIV treatments can control the virus and prevent AIDS, but they do not eliminate the virus completely.
• 😴 HIV can infect cells, go dormant, and persist for a long time, only to reactivate and cause problems if medication is stopped.
• 🔍 CRISPR-Cas9 technology has the potential to specifically target and cut the HIV virus within cells.
• 🧬 The enzyme delivered by CRISPR is guided by 'guide RNA' to ensure specificity in targeting the virus.
• 🐁 Experiments have so far been conducted on cells, not yet in humans or primates.
• 🔮 There is hope that CRISPR technology could be used in the future to eliminate HIV from the body's latent reservoir.
• 🤔 The exact number of HIV-infected cells that need to be eliminated to cure AIDS is unknown.
• 🐕 Studies in animals have shown the potential for significant reduction in the viral reservoir, but the implications for human treatment are still unclear.
• 🚫 A major challenge is determining if reducing the viral reservoir by a certain percentage is enough to prevent AIDS from recurring.
• 🔄 Ongoing research is crucial to understand the viral reservoir and the potential of CRISPR technology in HIV treatment.

Q & A

What breakthrough have scientists achieved using CRISPR gene-editing technology?

Scientists have successfully eliminated HIV from infected cells using CRISPR gene-editing technology.

Why is the elimination of HIV from infected cells significant?

Eliminating HIV from infected cells is significant because it could potentially lead to a cure for HIV, removing the virus entirely from the body.

What is the role of the enzyme in the CRISPR-Cas9 technology?

The enzyme in CRISPR-Cas9 technology is designed to cut the HIV virus specifically within the infected cells, targeting the virus with precision.

Why is further research necessary before this technology can be used in humans?

Further research is necessary to ensure that the technology is safe and effective, particularly in understanding the viral reservoir and whether all infected cells need to be eliminated to prevent the recurrence of AIDS.

What challenges remain in using CRISPR to cure HIV?

Challenges include understanding the viral reservoir in the body, determining how many infected cells need to be eliminated to prevent reactivation, and ensuring the technology's safety and effectiveness.

What is the viral reservoir, and why is it important in the context of HIV treatment?

The viral reservoir refers to the cells in which HIV can remain dormant and persist for a long time. It is important because if any of these cells survive, they can reactivate the virus, leading to the recurrence of AIDS.

How effective has CRISPR technology been in eliminating the viral reservoir in animal studies?

In animal studies, CRISPR technology has shown to eliminate 70-90% of the viral reservoir, but it is unclear if this is sufficient to prevent the recurrence of AIDS.

What would happen if only a small percentage of the viral reservoir remains after treatment?

If only a small percentage of the viral reservoir remains, it could potentially reactivate and cause AIDS again, which is why eliminating the entire reservoir is crucial.

What are the next steps in developing CRISPR technology for HIV treatment?

The next steps include further research to understand the viral reservoir better, improving the targeting and safety of CRISPR technology, and conducting more studies to determine its effectiveness in humans.

Why is there optimism about the future use of CRISPR technology in treating HIV?

There is optimism because CRISPR technology offers a targeted and potentially effective way to eliminate HIV from the body, which could lead to a cure for the virus in the future.

Outlines

00:00

🧬 CRISPR Technology Fights HIV

Scientists have made a significant breakthrough in the battle against HIV by using the CRISPR gene-editing tool to eliminate the virus from infected cells. The goal is to completely eradicate the virus from the body, but further research is needed to ensure the treatment's safety and efficacy. Dr. Jonathan Stoya from the Francis Crick Institute explains the process, highlighting the challenge of targeting the latent HIV reservoir within cells that can reactivate and cause AIDS if not treated with medication. The CRISPR-Cas9 system delivers an enzyme to cut the virus specifically, guided by RNA to ensure precision. Although experiments are currently limited to cells and not yet in humans or primates, the technology holds promise for future HIV treatment.

Keywords

💡HIV

HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus, is a virus that attacks the body's immune system, specifically the CD4 cells (T cells), which can lead to AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) if untreated. In the video, HIV is the main subject as scientists are discussing efforts to eliminate it from infected cells using CRISPR gene-editing technology.

💡AIDS

AIDS, or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, is the most severe phase of HIV infection, where the immune system is severely damaged and the body is vulnerable to opportunistic infections and cancers. The video touches on AIDS as the deadly consequence of untreated HIV, which researchers hope to prevent by potentially eradicating the virus from the body.

💡CRISPR

CRISPR, which stands for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, is a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows scientists to precisely alter DNA within cells. In the video, CRISPR is highlighted as the method being used to attempt the elimination of HIV from infected cells, offering hope for a future cure.

💡Gene Editing

Gene editing is a technique that involves making precise changes to the DNA of an organism. The video discusses gene editing in the context of using CRISPR technology to target and remove HIV from cells, a process that could potentially lead to a cure for the virus.

💡Viral Reservoir

A viral reservoir refers to cells or tissues in which a virus can persistently survive, despite the body's immune response or antiretroviral therapy. In the video, the viral reservoir is described as a significant challenge in curing HIV, as the virus can hide in these cells and reactivate if treatment is stopped.

💡Provirus

A provirus is the viral genome that is integrated into the DNA of a host cell. For HIV, the provirus can lie dormant within cells, making it difficult to completely eliminate the virus from the body. The video discusses the need to target these proviruses in order to achieve a potential cure for HIV.

💡Latency

Latency refers to the period during which a virus remains in a dormant state within a host cell, not actively replicating or causing symptoms. The video mentions the challenge of HIV latency, where the virus can remain hidden in cells for long periods, complicating efforts to eradicate it completely.

💡Antiretroviral Therapy

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is the use of a combination of medicines to treat HIV. ART helps keep the virus under control, preventing it from progressing to AIDS. However, the video highlights that while ART can manage the virus, it does not eliminate the HIV reservoir, which is why new approaches like CRISPR are being explored.

💡Enzyme

An enzyme is a protein that catalyzes chemical reactions in the body. In the context of the video, an enzyme is used in the CRISPR process to cut the HIV DNA out of infected cells, a critical step in attempting to eradicate the virus from the body.

💡Specificity

Specificity in the context of CRISPR refers to the ability of the technology to precisely target and edit specific sequences of DNA without affecting other parts of the genome. The video emphasizes the importance of specificity in ensuring that the CRISPR technique effectively removes HIV from cells without causing unintended damage.

Highlights

Scientists have successfully eliminated HIV from infected cells using CRISPR gene-editing technology.

The goal is to completely rid the body of the virus using this technology.

Further work is needed to ensure the treatment is safe and effective.

HIV infects and kills cells, potentially leading to AIDS.

Current treatments can stop HIV growth but cannot eliminate all the virus.

HIV can persist in cells, going dormant and reactivating occasionally.

CRISPR-Cas9 technology is the current best chance to eliminate HIV from the body.

CRISPR delivers an enzyme that cuts specifically the virus with enzyme guides for specificity.

Experiments are currently in cells, not yet in humans or primates.

The hope is for this technology to be useful in eliminating HIV from the latent reservoir.

There are many challenges, including understanding the viral reservoir and the number of cells to eliminate.

Studies in animals have reported 70-90% elimination of the reservoir.

The sufficiency of 70-90% elimination for curing AIDS is still unknown.

The risk of the remaining reservoir reactivating and causing AIDS again is a concern.

Dr. Jonathan Stoya is a virus expert at the Francis Crick Institute.

The interview discusses the potential and challenges of CRISPR technology in treating HIV.

Transcripts

scientists say they have successfully

eliminated HIV from infected cells using

Nobel prizewinning crisper Gene editing

technology the hope is to ultimately be

able to rid the body entirely of the

virus although much more work is needed

to check it would be safe and effective

let's get more on this and speak with Dr

Jonathan Stoya virus expert the Francis

criek Institute hello welcome to you

thanks for being with us so just explain

how this process

works well I think before I do that I

have to give you a little bit of

background about HIV and the disease it

causes so when HIV uh infects a cell it

kills it usually and this can result in

AIDS and people will die however we have

worked out ways to treat the virus and

stop it growing and if you take your HIV

medication you don't succumb to Aid

however this is there is a problem here

because we can't get rid of all the

virus some of it will infect cells go to

sleep and persist for a long long time

but occasionally reactivate and if we

are not taking medication we're back to

square one again so for a number of

years scientists have been trying to

find ways to get rid of the HIV from

ourselves and this crisper cast 9

technology which we've heard about is

the current best chance of doing this it

consists of a way of of delivering an

enzyme into a cell that will cut

specifically the virus and it has this

enzyme plus guides that will Target it

to give it this

specificity the experiments we've heard

about are in cells um they're not in in

in humans or or primates but there is

every hope that this kind of Technology

will be useful in the future in order to

try and get rid of uh of HIV from this

latent Reservoir so how far off do you

think scientists are in uh being able to

get this treatment to work effectively

then well there's a lot of there are a

lot of problems you have to remember we

don't know very much about this viral

Reservoir they're probably at least 10

to the N cells a billion cells that

carry these proviruses and we don't know

how many of those we have to eliminate

in order to cure people from AIDS and so

this work is ongoing

now some Studies have been carried out

in animals um and there have been

reports of 70 or 80 or 90% elimination

of the reservoir but we don't know

whether that's enough and this is

something that will be important to

discover in the future it it's a real

problem if only suppose only 1% of this

Reservoir survives will that reactivate

and cause AIDS

again I definitely don't have the answer

to that question but thank you very much

for raising it and for explaining all of

that to us Dr Jonathan storyy thank you

very much thank you it was a pleasure