Scientists say they can cut HIV out of cells | BBC News
Summary
TLDRScientists 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
🧬 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡HIV
💡AIDS
💡CRISPR
💡Gene Editing
💡Viral Reservoir
💡Provirus
💡Latency
💡Antiretroviral Therapy
💡Enzyme
💡Specificity
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
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