Gene editing could be a path to HIV/Aids treatment

A genetic strategy to modify cells from people infected with HIV could become a way to control the virus that causes Aids without antiviral drugs. That's according to results from an early-stage small study of the Sangamo BioSciences therapy,  issued in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The findings  represent first publication of data from a human trial of a technology called "gene editing" for HIV/Aids treatment. The technique is designed to disrupt a gene, CCR5, used by HIV to infect T-cells, the white blood cells that fight viral infections. A patient's cells are removed and processed to alter the DNA that codes for the CCR5 receptor. The altered cells are multiplied and tested, then infused back into the patient.

The Phase 1 trial led by the University of Pennsylvania, enrolled 12 HIV patients. The study's main goal was safety, but it also showed that the modified T-cells persisted and the presence of HIV DNA decreased, the researchers say.

"It's very solid, elegant science," says Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Reuters