German scientists have succeeded in snipping the virus that causes AIDS out of human cells, leaving them healthy again. The procedure is a breakthrough in bio-technology and fuels hope of a cure for AIDS. Current therapies can only limit the spread of HIV and not remove it from the body.
The scientists' method used the ability of so-called recombinase enzymes to cut strands of DNA at certain places like a pair of scissors and recombine the strands. The new enzyme, Tre, always recognized the right spot to snip the DNA where the HIV started. The scientists said it recognized a characteristic HIV sequence that scarcely ever mutated.
The laboratories artificially evolved Cre into Tre through more than 120 recombinase generations. Hauber said the cell then flushed out the snipped-away DNA as waste. "After that, it is healthy," Hauber said.
AIDS-extracting enzyme
German Scientists Develop New Approach to Treating AIDS
Tags: the future
Current Music: HeXanE -- Recombinant ♬
11 Responses:
My name is Deiter and this is the time on Sprokets when we test for AIDS.
BTW I'm infected with HIV. I currently take a combination of
and
How about you?
Oh, and I have German ancestry too. My mother's parents made it out of Deutchland in 1934.
Dude, you had me as amused as I was going to get at the SNL reference. All this justification just harshes the buzz.
Woah! Next sex revolution is coming!
I wish I had a dollar for every cure for AIDS that I've seen blow by in the news.
Pretty much. Theer are some major hurdles facing this. Of course, the mention of those are saved for the last 3 sentences. It also has the problem in that it doesn't actually prevent reinfection. This coupled with a vaccine would be the way to go. Of course... this will probably be available right about the same time a vaccine is.
I, for one, welcome our German DNA-snipping organic molecules.
Or something along those lines.
Hopefully it does indeed work in the long run and doesn't get crippled by the medicine lobby.
I wouldn't worry about that. If it actually works outside of experimental settings, which is probably not going to be the case, and its possible to come up with a viable efficacious process in which the benefits actually outweigh the risks (which is also unlikely), hospitals would be able to charge *soooo* much money for the procedure it would make your head spin. You'd be talking about cloning stem cells, destroying the immune system, sniping the genes, cloning new stem cells from that, and perfusing the resultant mess back into place. Then you have the money to be made form the associated equipment, reagents, follow ups, support services. It'd be a freaking gold mine because you sure as a hell know that hardly anyone is going to see this as an optional treatment.
You don't need to destroy the immune system - you're dealing with AIDS patients, remember.
Berlin Patient