After decades of hard labor, the end may finally be in sight for incurable HIV:
Scientists have successfully eliminated HIV from infected cells in what has been hailed as a significant breakthrough in the race for a cure.
Using 'genetic scissors', experts were able to snip out the virus from infected T cells in the laboratory, removing all traces.
Experts said the hope is the technique could one day be developed into a treatment, stopping the need for lifelong antiviral medication.
Human immunodeficiency virus — HIV, which causes AIDS — is, as you may know, at present unable to be cured. It can be managed with drugs, but those who are infected with it will always live with the risk of a possible resurgence, which can lead to death from AIDS.
Scientists have been working to cure the condition since it first arose as a global scourge of gay communities in the 1980s. Modern technology may have finally given them the tools to do so:
Using the Crispr genome-editing technique, researchers at Amsterdam UMC, the Netherlands, honed in on the part of the virus which is the same across all known HIV strains.
They were also able to target these 'hidden' HIV reservoir cells by focusing on specific proteins found on the surfaces of these cells.
It is "likely still years away" that this treatment can be made to work at scale "in an entire body."
Other recent developments in pharmaceuticals, meanwhile, suggest the possibility of "reversing HIV's ability to escape detection by the immune system," allowing the body to potentially naturally destroy it.
Very cool.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
