Breakthrough in biology: American scientists have created a gene therapy that makes cells immune to HIV

A group of American molecular biologists has achieved a significant breakthrough in the field of gene therapy using the revolutionary CRISPR/Cas9 genome editor, which allows not only to effectively cleanse the body of HIV, but also to change the DNA of healthy immune cells, making them resistant to the virus. The news was officially confirmed by the Temple University press office on Monday.

The researchers were inspired by the success stories of patients curing HIV after bone marrow transplantation. They noticed that the complete elimination of the virus requires not only the removal of HIV from the body, but also the removal of CCR5 receptors from immune cells. A team of scientists has developed a simpler and more practical procedure that achieves this goal with CRISPR/Cas9-based gene therapy.

At the moment, only four people on the planet are considered completely cured of HIV. Among them is the famous “Berlin patient” Timothy Brown, who gained immunity to the virus after a bone marrow transplant. There have also been cases of successful treatment of a “London patient” Adam Castillejo from Venezuela, an anonymous “Düsseldorf patient” aged 53, and an anonymous middle-aged woman from the United States.

The resistance of these patients to HIV is due to the fact that they received bone marrow from a donor with mutations in the CXCR4 and CCR5 genes, which either deprive the virus of the ability to attack the body’s immune cells or significantly slow down its spread. But not all carriers of such genetic variations completely get rid of the virus, but they almost always prevent the development of immunodeficiency.