Through the wonders of gene therapy, the world is just that much closer to finding a functional cure for HIV. A functional cure is one such that HIV within the body is reduced to undetectable levels without antiretroviral therapy and so low that the body's own natural immune system can keep it in check. In order to reach that, technological and medical advances had to be made. Those advances just produced breakthrough results. Researchers at Sangamo BioSciences in Richmond, California, recently conducted a trial with a new type of gene therapy that reduced levels of the virus and, in the case of one patient, led to undetectable viremia.
The firm has announced that it has found a way to enrich the T-cells that fight HIV within the body and protect them from being infected by HIV themselves through gene therapy. Using zinc finger nucleases, the T-cells are transformed to get a mutation on the CCR5 co-receptor. This co-receptor is one that allows HIV to infect cells, but a disruption in the gene makes the cell resistant to HIV infection. In effect, it mimics the same result naturally found in the small percentage of humans who are born with this genetic mutation. This is the same mutation that cured the "Berlin Patient" of HIV through bone marrow transplant last December.
Researchers decided on this approach after realizing that some people actually do have natural protection against HIV. Humans typically have two copies of every gene. Well, if a person has mutations in both CCR5 genes, it renders them protected against most HIV strains. If a person holds only one of the two genes mutated, HIV infection is possible, but the disease progression is slower than usually. This aforementioned mutation is only found in less than 1 percent of the world's population-mostly of European descent-and may have been an evolutionary response to protect against the Black Death plague of the 14th century that wiped out well over half of Europe's population.
An estimated 33 million people worldwide have HIV, and this could be the start of finding a cure for those people. Replicating the genetic mutation in this small pool of individuals wasn't even thought of until the serendipitous HIV cure of the Berlin Patient, but researchers are pleased that such an event occurred to shine a light on this important subject. The path toward an HIV cure continues to grow shorter, and that's encouraging to the many millions of people who live with HIV.
International Symposium on HIV & Emerging Infectious Diseases (ISHEID): the world leading AIDS experts will gather for the 2012 HIV AIDS ISHEID conference in Marseille, France, May 23-25, 2012. The general AIDS conference theme will be 'From Universal HIV Testing to HIV Cure'.
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