HIV/AIDS treatment news 2016: Scientists snip virus from cells; hopes a cure could be just few years away

Scientists have come a long way in terms of finding a cure for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). Despite all the scientific progress made in the previous years, humanity continues to face global challenges when it comes to preventing the spread of the disease, along with the efforts to fully eradicate it.

Since HIV/AIDS was discovered in the 1980s, the disease has claimed over 25 million lives and counting. In a report by Science Daily, cells primarily infected by the virus are called CD4+ T-cells, and eliminating it has proved to be very difficult for scientists. Most of the attempts focus on a "shock and kill" method, where the HIV is intentionally reactivated in an effort to stimulate an immune response to completely kill the virus. As of the moment, none of such attempts have succeeded.

The most recent breakthrough for HIV/AIDS treatment comes from the researchers at Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University, USA where they used a rather different approach. According to a report by Telegraph, the new method harnesses "state-of-the-art genetic editing technology," working by literally snipping the virus away from the cell's DNA. To date, the experiments have only been done in the lab, but the scientists are confident that the innovation will be ready for human testing in the next three years.

As far as the research goes, lead researcher Professor Kamel Khalili is optimistic that their new discovery has a high potential to be the first successful HIV/AIDS treatment.

"The fact that for the first time we have been able to completely eliminate segments of the viral genome in the laboratory demonstrates that we should be able to eliminate it in the human body. The findings are important on multiple levels. They demonstrate the effectiveness of our gene editing system in eliminating HIV from the DNA of immune cells and permanently inactivating its replication. Further, they show that the system can protect cells from reinfection and that the technology is safe for the cells, with no toxic effects. It has huge potential. Based on the findings we should be entering into clinical trials within three years," he said.

The full research can be viewed in Nature's Scientific Reports.