Can gene editing lead to a cure of HIV?

[Scientists have] announced that they had used CRISPR/Cas9 to test gene after gene after gene in human immune system cells — 45 genes in all — to identify those that have anything to do with infection by the HIV virus, which causes AIDS….

For years, scientists have known that mutations in some genes can keep HIV from getting inside T cells…But it never hurts to find more ways to block HIV infection, scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, and its Gladstone Institutes figured.

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Editing the genomes of T cells to prevent, let alone cure, HIV/AIDS faces stiff headwinds. Half a dozen papers since 2013 have reported varying degrees of success using CRISPR to block HIV infection in animals or in cells growing in lab dishes, but in some cases HIV overcomes CRISPR’s edits. Multiple genome edits, simultaneously or sequentially, might be necessary.

UCSF scientists are hopeful that drugs could mimic the genome editing they did and become at least as affordable as today’s HIV/AIDS drugs.

The GLP aggregated and excerpted this blog/article to reflect the diversity of news, opinion, and analysis. Read full, original post: CRISPR identifies genes that might be targeted to hobble HIV infection