Possible HIV cure discovered  | Health News | Advocate.com

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July 03, 2007
Possible HIV cure discovered

Scientists in Germany have discovered a way to remove HIV from infected cells, the Associated Press reports. The study, published in Science magazine, involves a newly engineered enzyme that attacks the DNA of the virus and cuts it from infected cells.

"A customized enzyme that effectively excises integrated HIV-1 from infected cells in vitro might one day help to eradicate [the] virus from AIDS patients," Alan Engelman of Harvard Medical School affiliate Dana-Farber Cancer Institute wrote in an article accompanying the study, according to the AP.

The study's authors said the enzyme, called Tre, won't be available as a treatment anytime in the near future, but it's a step forward in the fight 40 million infected people face worldwide.

The enzyme's method of finding HIV's DNA might be the key to overcoming what the article calls a substantial obstacle: the virus's ability to go undetected for several months or years because of its occasional dormancy within infected cells. Still, barriers remain before the enzyme can be made publicly available.

"The most important, and likely most difficult, among these is that the enzyme would need efficient and safe means of delivery and would have to be able to function without adverse side effects," wrote the study's lead author, Indrani Sarkar of the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden.

Sarkar concluded, "Nevertheless, the results we present offer an early proof of principal for this type of approach, which we speculate might form a useful basis for the development of future HIV therapies." (The Advocate)

 

 

Reader Comments

These comments are reproduced as written by visitors to this Web site. They have not been edited for content, grammar, or spelling. The viewpoints appearing here are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect the opinion or views of advocate.com, The Advocate, or its affiliates.

  • Name: RICHARD
    Date posted: 2008-10-11 8:33 PM
    Hometown: VENEZUELA

    Comment:

    I am willing to commit suicide very soon because I am not going to accept this f..... virus to kill me, i prefer 100 times to take it out of my body and be happy again when I see my blood on the street and the virus dying,I will celebrate it in Heaven or Hell. I am very sorry because I never thought I was going to kill myself but I prefer to die than to live with this enemy that I hate with all my mind. Please to all the doctors that are working on this, remeber about all the inocent and good people that are killing themselves because of this,please hurry up and if cure is never possible then try to advertise people on the television,radio,newspapers all over the world for the people to be more cautious.Remember that this can be also for you or for your sons and daughters.Raise the hand those who don`t have sex????? Raise YOUR HANDS!!!!!! Everybody has sex in this world.


  • Name: veronique
    Date posted: 2008-08-06 4:36 AM
    Hometown: haiti

    Comment:

    i cant't wait to see a hiv cure. this disease has destroyed my life. do you think there will be any resukts soon? and when was this posted?


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