In the United States, scientists have managed to completely eradicate the virus using a controversial technique that manipulates DNA.
About 36.7 million people were living with HIV worldwide by the end of 2015, according to WHO figures. Today, treatments exist to block the evolution of the virus in the body. But there is no way to cure AIDS. A new study, published in the journal Molecular Therapy on Wednesday 3 May and spotted by France 24, offers new perspectives in the treatment of this disease. American scientists explain that they have successfully completely eradicated the virus from the body of living mice.
To achieve this result, the researchers used a new method to modify DNA: the CRISPR / Cas9, a kind of "DNA scissors". These "molecular scissors" are based on "a natural method used by bacteria," says the National Institute of Health and Medical Research, where a protein breaks DNA, which allows to modify or deactivate genes . As part of the AIDS virus, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of the Temple of Philadelphia have managed to remove the "fragments of genes affected by the virus," says France 24. A manipulation that allowed them Both to stop the progression of the virus and to eradicate it completely.
Genetically modified human
For one of the co-authors of the study, Kamil Khalili, the ultimate goal will be to initiate clinical trials on human patients. Previously, new tests should be carried out on primates, a "more appropriate" model to study the virus. But the method used is controversial. This genomic modification technique has been classified by the CIA as a potential "weapons of mass destruction", explains Franceinfo, and in China researchers have used it for research on human embryos, opening the door to A genetically modified human for the better, but also for the worse.
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