After four decades and over 700,000 Americans dead, gene editing experts believe they are on the cusp of curing HIV.
Three patients in California have just been injected with genetic material along with an enzyme called CAS9 that early studies suggest can splice sections of the virus’ DNA that become lodged in human cells, eliminating it entirely.
Using the gene-editing technology CRISPR, a cure for the AIDS-causing virus could be closer on the horizon than ever thought before.
The current trial aims to prove the treatment is safe, but data on how well it work is expected next year.
HIV was a near-certain death sentence until the mid-90s, when antiviral medications turned it into a chronic disease that people can live with.
In total 1.2 million Americans have HIV and, even with access to medicine, have a risk of seeing their dormant infection resurface and potentially progress to AIDS.
Treatment options have evolved considerably since HIV was first identified in the early 80s. The course of treatment went from patients having to take several pills a day that might not even work well to start, to taking just a single daily pill that combines all of the best known therapies into one.
These are known as antiretroviral therapies, or daily medications that tamp down the amount of virus in the blood to undetectable levels. These medications are effective, they are not a cure.
A cure for HIV has eluded scientists for decades because of the unique way in which the virus hijacks the body’s own cells.
HIV hides in immune cells in the body, where they can shield themselves from being destroyed by other immune cells. This makes hunting and killing HIV in the body difficult, because there is a risk of damaging healthy cells as well.
Hellbound and Down 