Monday 25 August 2014
Moving towards an advanced and robust future, Scientists have
taken a significant step towards an enduring remedy for AIDS by using notably
designed enzymes to physically cut the HIV virus out of an infected Human gene therapy.
“Current therapies have altered Aids into a chronic illness, but
the root of the problem – the virus – hasn’t been eliminated; only
suppressed.”Scientist has providentially enlarged the HIV virus from various
human cell cultures, but warn that they are “still years removed from the
clinical setting” and that the research is simply “a proof of concept that
we're moving in the correct direction.”
Over 35 million people all over the world are contemporarily
infected by HIV, with highly operative antiretroviral therapy used to
control the disease in the developed world. However, this treatment does not
totally eradicate HIV from the body and the virus is likely to become active
again if treatment is ever stopped. Although the gene-editing approach could
provide a permanent remedy for AIDS, the research is still in its infancy.
The scientists have yet to find a method to deliver the ‘snipping’
enzymes to every infected cell and there are also worries that treatment of
this kind could have unexpected side-effects such as cell mutations Similarly,
the genetic diversity of the virus may mean that each treatment has to be
tailored to the specific virus - a costly barrier to a 'universal' cure.
For a complete list, click on Bentham Science Publishers’ Journals Impacting Science
