New Gene Therapy Braces T Cells Against HIV
HIV-1 Budding From Cultured Lymphocyte CDCIt's not a cure, but researchers hope inserting a few genes into T cell receptors can keep HIV cells at bay. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and their collaborators elsewhere have opened up a new front in the war on HIV/AIDS. Using the tools of the geneticist to insert a series of HIV-resistant genes into T cells--the body's immune cells that are actively targeted by HIV and AIDS--researchers have a found a potent means of fending off HIV cells that would otherwise inhabit and destroy the cells. HIV and AIDS are usually treated through a cocktail of antiretroviral drugs that essentially attack the viruses at various phases of their replication processes. Because the lifecycle of HIV/AIDS is so short (just a few days, if that) it can mutate quickly as it replicates, so this kind of therapy usually involves a complex combination...