HIV 'gene hack' offers new treatment hope

ConclusionThis phase one trial showed that the infusion of genetically modified T helper cells was achieved reasonably safely in 12 people with chronic HIV.It isn’t clear if it could be an effective treatment for HIV, as the virus became detectable in the blood of all six participants who stopped taking their antiretroviral treatment. Although the levels of the virus then began to reduce after eight weeks, it only came back to undetectable levels in the person who already had one DNA strand of the genetic mutation. It took several weeks for this to happen in the other five people.The primary aim of the study was to determine the safety of the treatment in humans, rather than to determine immunity to HIV. It may be that a different dose of cells is more effective. Further studies in larger numbers of people will now be needed to further examine the treatment’s safety and to look at its possible effectiveness and what factors and characteristics in a person might influence this.Analysis by Bazian. Edited by NHS Choices. Follow Behind the Headlines on Twitter. Join the Healthy Evidence forum. Links To The Headlines Immune upgrade gives 'HIV shielding'. BBC News, March 6 2014HIV gene therapy using GM cells hailed a success after trial. The Guardian, March 6 2014Could AIDS be cured by modifying patients' genes? New treatment could spell the end of daily drug regime. MailOnline, March 6 2014 Links To Science Tebas P, et al. Gene Editing of CCR5 in Autologous CD4 T Cells of Pe...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Medication Source Type: news