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Gene editing could make anyone immune to AIDS

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Some people have a mutation that makes them amazingly resistant to HIV -- and now, scientists may have found a way to give that immunity to anyone.
bshipp

82 responses // Gene editing could make anyone immune to AIDS

  • Talk about a breakthrough.

    I thought people had given up on this.
    BenDorries
  • http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nbt...
    Here's the abstract of their experiment:

    Homozygosity for the naturally occurring 32 deletion in the HIV co-receptor CCR5 confers resistance to HIV-1 infection. We generated an HIV-resistant genotype de novo using engineered zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs) to disrupt endogenous CCR5. Transient expression of CCR5 ZFNs permanently and specifically disrupted 50% of CCR5 alleles in a pool of primary human CD4+ T cells. Genetic disruption of CCR5 provided robust, stable and heritable protection against HIV-1 infection in vitro and in vivo in a NOG model of HIV infection. HIV-1-infected mice engrafted with ZFN-modified CD4+ T cells had lower viral loads and higher CD4+ T-cell counts than mice engrafted with wild-type CD4+ T cells, consistent with the potential to reconstitute immune function in individuals with HIV/AIDS by maintenance of an HIV-resistant CD4+ T-cell population. Thus adoptive transfer of ex vivo expanded CCR5 ZFN–modified autologous CD4+ T cells in HIV patients is an attractive approach for the treatment of HIV-1 infection.


    So there.
    mattbrawn
    4 responses to this
  • I am no expert, but I thought that scientists had a very limited knowledge of how genes interact. As a result, the very idea of 'gene editing' seems extremely dangerous as it will be incredibly difficult if not impossible to predict what other genetic changes are brought about when trying to make a specific alteration.
    JanaPokana
  • Does this mean that I can have unprotected promiscuous sex with random and different people without fear of for my life again?

    Yes, I'm kidding.
    Varex_Sythe
  • Jana, it's true what you say, but the relationships are so unbelievably complicated that there's no way of knwing what the effect of removing, say, this CCR5 Protein will have.

    The point I would make is that trial and error is the only way biologists can learn about which phenotypes are controlled by which combination of genes in the lab. And while trial and error in human subjects is a bit untasteful, if it's between being even partially relieved of AIDS and the off chance of a side effect, I know which one I'd choose.

    However in this specific case of the removal of a protein from the cell wall, I don't think that would have as much effect as say, removing a protein from inside the cell: these are the really important ones in determining cell type and controlling their inner workings.
    rwylie
    1 response to this
  • This is truly extraordinary news. Godo work scientists!
    Now we just need cures for Cancer, Hepatitis and Lupus and we're good.
    kristianbrodie
    1 response to this
  • Awesome news but does this remind anyone else of the beginning of 'I Am Legend'?
    richjm
    3 responses to this
  • The film. Which is basically the same as the movie but everyone has British accents.
    richjm
  • And no crappy CGI vampires; the movie would've been allright if they'd done a '28 days later' type thing.
    rwylie
  • There's something wrong here. The hidden is far more frightening than the seen.
    J_Jammer
  • newsflash: a cure for AIDS was first found twenty years ago. It's called money. you need lots of it and it helps to also be famous. see: magic johnson.
    diabolical44
    3 responses to this
  • gene editing? These two words together are scary. I have a hard time believing this cure will find it's way to those hit hardest by HIV.
    24French
  • hepatitis - check.
    polio - check.
    tuberculosis- check.
    aids - check-ish.
    cancer's next baby!
    bishopobispo
  • The pharmaceutical corporations will be all over this.
    aburninggiraffe
  • Pharmaceutical companies are making too much money with HIV/AIDs as a chronic disease to hope for a cure.

    They spend more money on advertising than on research.
    uroborus8
  • 24 French: That kind of attitude would prevent a lot of cures which I'm sure in the future will be able to relieve suffering. I'm glad that biologists aren't 'scared' by this amazing process which we are only just begginning to unlock the potential of. Sure we have to be careful, but to act like our genetic code is somehow sacred or out of bounds is totally unreasonable:

    We ourselves are not a 'finished article' as many people would like to think we are, but imperfect, and 'defects' naturally occur in our DNA. Would you insist that someone with a debilitating genetic disease just accept their lot if a cure could be found?

    In addition, gene editing in bacteria is currently being used to investigate the mass production of drugs.

    The backward view that 'messing around' with genes will somehow turn us all into mutants will hold medical progress back.
    rwylie
    3 responses to this
  • Gene editing could probably take care of a lot of issues once we pioneer the ways in which it can be done. This can be great, but on the other hand it could backfire in a big way.
    VigorousAlloy
  • see this is the kind of thing that people singe at when you say HAH.. this comes from something once ethically wrong...
    especially when of the persons is me...
    kewal91
  • “god schmod - I want my monkey-man!”

    -Bart SImpsons
    Audiogeek
  • I really wish that people would stop dicking around with reality. Who needs to in the first place. Now i know about cloning, but who needs to?
    passjay
    1 response to this
  • we do these things to know more about the world around us, and use it to our advantage. if finding a cure to aids is considered dicking around with reality, then damn we all fucked up our lives
    PcfllIntent
  • http://www.fantastic-voyage.net/
    reality is there to be dicked with. remember we used to be in caves and then we figured out we could make tents from skin and follow around our food source? you can't draw a line and say "human progress should go no farther." Read some about the science of life extension. The people who forecasted and developed the internet think some of us will live long enough to live forever... and if that's the case then it's all bets off for what we can think, do, be, accomplish.
    aschneider
    3 responses to this
  • While it's wonderful to know we're making advances in preventing and curing things like HIV/AIDs, gene editing does make me nervous. Doesn't mean it shouldn't happen or that it's bad, I just think that we have to be cautious when altering such a basic and essential part of the human body.
    dcuisinot
    1 response to this
  • Like any new technique a lot can go wrong but as they do more and more research on it the problems get better known and ways are found to make it more effective and safer.

    The ways that genes can interact is a definite problem that if people here can guess would be a danger, I'm sure that the people doing the research are aware of and working on solving.

    So that just like organ transplants were once new and dangerous they became safer and more effective as more research was done on them so will gene editing.
    Argon18
  • We are the last of "God's Children" Gene altering will be as common in humans as it is in corn.

    Who knows how far it will go. We have a naturaly occuring gene that makes caluses on our feet mabye no more shoes.

    Hey think BIG!!!!
    1779fleet
  • This is an awsome achievement, but does this count as *Playing God*???

    Who gets to be the first person whos genes get changed and possibly turn into a blood sucking zombie?
    clayjj05
    2 responses to this
  • If you're going to take that stand then the first blood transfusion was "Playing God" also plus many other methods that have followed.

    I suppose the first who gets their genes edited will be like the first heart transplant

    The first human to human heart transplant was performed by Professor Christiaan Barnard at Groote Schuur Hospital in December 1967. The patient was a Louis Washkansky of Cape Town, South Africa, who lived for 18 days after the procedure before dying of pneumonia.

    They got better at it after that so that has more than a 75% success rate now. I expect the same will be true of gene editing
    Argon18
    3 responses to this
  • This is absolutely wonderful news. Gene editing may sound foreign, scary even, but the benefits of successful experimentation could do amazing things for the entire world. Every endeavor has its risks, and without taking those risks we will never know exactly how much we can achieve.

    Im all for this. I hope it goes where it needs to go.

    peace & love.
    carligula
  • Now it's time for another "Good Idea, Bad Idea"

    Good Idea: Stopping AIDS
    Bad Idea: Gene Editing

    You think this "solution" isn't going to pave the way for unimaginable terrors?

    Hollywood called, they want their sci-fi script back!
    PajamaDan
    1 response to this
  • They will probably charge too much for the 'editing'.
    CicatrizJCP
  • WOW!!! theres got to be a side affect or somthing its to good to be true. Its like a cure to a zombie invasion that you only see in movies!
    currentkid
  • Doesn't this virus mutate at a rapid rate? They'll haveto be on top of this as much as they are flu-vaccines for it to work
    Frier_peppino
    1 response to this
  • Sounds like a cool concept, but I always stay wary when I hear scientists declare that they MAY have a solution for such-and-such.
    AutifK
  • Here's the thing kiddos....it's a way to make the key not fit the lock of the blood cell. A small percentage of Europe had it and thats how some people survived the black death. That said, thos people ended up being wiped out in the second wave of the black death, while the people who had a different one survived. Moral of the story? Viruses mutate. Let's not tamper with our genetic code and finally bring on the super strain that goes airborn (thats possibly a hyperbole but maybe not)
    SilenceNoMore
  • I watched a piece on the Discovery Channel regarding the Black Death and immunity of certain people. At that time it was mentioned that this immunity among certain people appeared to carry over into a resistance to developing AIDS.
    MoonLoon
  • It would explain how there are some people who have long list of unprotected sexcapades and narrowly escape with a few bumps and itches. Chance may have something to do with it, but I'd like to think it's totally due to super genes.
    Neghie
  • I think people are getting the wrong idea about this as a solution to aids because they dont know how genetics works.

    This isn't like a shot that you get, and then you're genes are changed and you're free of aids. It's not a cure that you can give to a person who has it, or to a full grown person to make them immune.

    To change the genes of an adult, you'd have to change the genes, of every cell a person makes as they make them. That's not possible yet, in case you're wondering.

    It's genetics people. Pick up a book.
    squidteeth
  • And then someone sneezes into the petri dish...
    Blackfoot777
  • this sounds sketch. messing with DNA? can someone see some new version of I AM LEGEND happening in reality? or defunked babies?