Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a nightmare for healthcare professionals. This disease has spread for decades and cannot completely cure patients. The only option is to receive cocktail therapy or antiretroviral therapy. Delay the onset of the disease, thereby extending the life of the patient. A few days ago, the research team used gene editing technology to successfully remove HIV-1 DNA from human immune cells, thereby preventing further replication and reinfection of the virus.
A research team at Temple University in the United States used CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing technology to remove the HIV-1 virus on T cells, which plays an important role in the human immune response and further infects other people. Healthy cells make it impossible. The so-called CRISPR/Cas9 technology is a technology in which scientists use guideRNA to modify target regions of cell DNA.
Previously, the research team successfully eliminated HIV-1 DNA from human immune cells. The latest research shows that the removed cells are no longer infected with HIV. Research team member Dr. Carmel Khalili said that antiretroviral drugs can help patients control HIV infection, but as long as patients forget or stop taking the drug, the virus will spontaneously start to replicate and restore its state. He said this would make the situation worse.
Khalili believes that this discovery is very important for all stages of development. He said: "This completely shows that this gene editing technology for removing HIV virus from helper T cells with CD4 receptors is effective, and that mutations in the viral genome can also make this possible. The virus No longer replicates, which means it can be used to prevent other cell infections. The technology is not only safe, but also toxic. It has no effect."
However, this is a successful case. It is an experiment to extract T cells from AIDS patients. No actual human experiment has been carried out yet, but Hariri said that this technology is very useful in the medical field. We believe that we have to deal with important issues, and the results of the experiment are quite comparable. To succeed, they should continue to develop in the direction of human experiments.