German researchers say they are developing a new method that is expected to help patients remove HIV from the body. Animal experiments have been successful.
HIV, like other retroviruses, its genetic material will be integrated into the human host genome for replication during reproduction. Although the current antiretroviral therapy can effectively inhibit the reproduction of HIV, it cannot eradicate this type of integrated virus. Therefore, the virus can stay dormant during treatment, and once the treatment is stopped, it will resume replication.
The Dresden University of Technology in Germany issued a press release on the same day, stating that the university has cooperated with researchers from the Heinrich Petter Institute in Hamburg to use the "Molecular Directed Evolution" method, an important tool for protein modification, to develop a product called Brec1. Of recombinase. Test-tube cell specimens and laboratory mouse experiments show that this recombinase can accurately locate and identify more than 90% of clinically common HIV strains, and can safely and accurately "cut out" the integrated provirus from the genome of infected cells.
The so-called provirus refers to the potential viral genome that exists in the host chromosome. Experiments also showed that this method did not disrupt the function of host cells and normal genes. After the original virus is cleared, the immune system that has failed due to the interference of HIV genetic material is expected to return to normal.
Researchers said that this method is expected to bring fundamental changes to AIDS treatment, making it possible to cure it completely. Based on the current animal experiments, researchers have been approved to conduct preliminary clinical trials on AIDS patients.