The use of CRISPR technology could lead to a cure for HIV as researchers have eliminated the disease in nine mice for the first time using the gene-editing method. Through a combination of CRISPR and an antiretroviral therapy known as LASER ART, scientists from Temple University and the University of Nebraska Medical Center removed the HIV DNA from the genomes of animals injected with human bone marrow to mimic our immune system. In their study, published today in Nature Communications, the team used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing, which is already being tested on humans by leading biotech companies, to eliminate all traces of HIV.
The use of CRISPR technology could lead to a cure for HIV as researchers have eliminated the disease in nine mice for the first time using the gene-editing method. Through a combination of CRISPR and an antiretroviral therapy known as LASER ART, scientists from Temple University and the University of Nebraska Medical Center removed the HIV DNA from the genomes of animals injected with human bone marrow to mimic our immune system. This method, the first demonstration that HIV is a curable disease, could eventually replace the current treatment, which only suppresses the virus to prevent the development of AIDS.