Resisting HIV at the Genetic Level

Scientists are researching what could become the newest form of HIV prevention: gene editing.  In the 1990s, Wired reports, scientists studying HIV in a small group of gay men found that many of the men who could sexually engage with HIV-positive partners without contracting the virus had a genetic mutation that prevented their cells from producing a certain type of protein.  HIV thrives in the body by latching on to that protein, called CCR5, which is found on the surface of T-cells—one of the two principal types of white blood cells and an essential component of a healthy immune system.  By blocking CCR5 production, scientists leave HIV with one less thing to hold on to.

A report posted on June 29 on the Nature Biotechnology website describes the latest developments in this area.  Carl June and others at the University of Pennsylvania have used zinc finger nucleases—a type of engineered proteins—to genetically disrupt CCR5, which they found “provided robust, stable and heritable protection against HIV-1 infection.”

However, the testing involved only mice and cultured T-cells, so it remains to be seen whether the procedure would be effective in humans.  The hope is that T-cells could be removed from an infected individual, genetically edited, and then returned to the individual’s body where they would multiply and boost the patient’s immune system, allowing them to remain healthy in spite of the virus’s presence.  To learn more about this procedure, check out Dr. Robin Kimmel’s explanation.