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US researchers are preparing to
launch human clinical trials of an approach that uses genetically modified stem
cells, master cells that can be altered to become any type of cell, to fight
HIV.
Joseph Anderson, a stem cell
researcher at the University of California-Davis’ Institute for Regenerative
Cures, and colleagues bred mice to have a human immune system, injected them
with stem cells genetically modified with a trio of HIV-resistant genes, then
infected them with HIV.
The mice were able to block HIV
infection and maintain normal immune systems, “even though the virus was still
there,” Anderson said. “We were able to still detect virus that was replicating
inside of the mice. However, because we put in genetically modified stem cells,
the resistant immune cells were able to maintain a normal immune cell’s level
and maintain a functional immune system.”
The mice’s immune systems functioned
normally, with the HIV-resistant cells thriving and reproducing. Anderson hopes
next to advance to clinical trials using genetically modified, HIV-resistant
immune cells in HIV-positive human subjects.
The goal would be “to maintain a
normal human immune system in patients that have HIV infection. Hopefully,
they’ll be able to stop taking the antiretroviral drugs that they normally
take, because the genetically resistant stem cells will be able to fight off
the virus in the body,” Anderson said.
[PNU editor’s note: The full report,
“Generation of an HIV-1-Resistant Immune System with CD34+ Hematopoietic Stem
Cells Transduced with a Triple-Combination Anti-HIV Lentiviral Vector,” was
published in the Journal of Virology (2012;86(10):5719-5729).]
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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