HIV virus receives double blow from new gene therapy

Not even a week has passed since gamers were enlisted to help crack the AIDS puzzle that we have word which might just put the HIV virus on the ropes – for good. It seems that a new groundbreaking gene therapy was so successful that a person infected with the HIV virus who did not take any antiretroviral drugs for three months still remained free of the virus. This development might actually mean a cure for AIDS as it could very well keep the HIV virus in check permanently – without the need for expensive cocktails of antiretrovirals.

How does this gene therapy work? Well, it will lock the virus out of the CD4 white blood cells which it normally attacks. Unfortunately, this is not a 100% cure – out of half a dozen people with HIV who were given the treatment, only one cleared the virus completely, while the other two saw 10-fold drops in circulating virus, with the remaining test subjects not experiencing any kind of change.

Still, this is better than any other efforts against the HIV virus so far, and perhaps when it is developed and worked upon further, a cure is within sight?

Edwin Kee
Categories: Medical
Tags: aids