As of now, treating the HIV virus involves using drugs that help the body’s immune system cope, but now researchers have revealed that they were able to remove DNA of the commonest HIV-1 strain from various organs of mice and rats that were infected.
Back in April, the team of researchers eliminated the virus from human cells, but for the first time ever they have managed to do the same thing in live animals.
Kamel Khalili, the professor who led the study at Temple University, and his team delivered gene-editing technology into the mice and rats via a recombinant adeno-associated viral vector (rAAV) system.
After two weeks, the researchers analyzed tissue samples. The results showed that the HIV-1 DNA was cut out from the viral genome in every tissue, which included the liver, brain, kidney, spleen, blood cells and the heart.
The next step would be to perform testing on a larger group of animals, and researchers will monitor the effects of the treatment.
Khalili and his team hopes that their technique will become a way to treat those who have HIV, but before that becomes a reality, it would undergo a clinical trial that could happen within the next few years.
