A new study conducted at Tel Aviv University in Israel offers a new and unique approach to AIDS treatment that promises to be developed into a relevant vaccine or lead to a one-time treatment for AIDS. The technique utilizes B-type leukocytes, which can be genetically modified in patients and secrete neutralizing antibodies against the AIDS virus (HIV). The study was published in the recent issue of Nature.
Over the past 20 years, scientists have attempted to transform AIDS from a fatal to a chronic treatment, and the lives of many patients have improved as a result. However, there is still a long way to go to find a way to provide patients with a permanent cure.
B cells are white blood cells responsible for producing antibodies against viruses, bacteria, etc. B cells are formed in the bone marrow, and when they mature, they enter the blood and lymphatic systems and from there go to different parts of the body.
Until now, only a few scientists have been able to design B cells in vitro. In the present study, the laboratory of Adi Bazel at Tel Aviv University has developed for the first time a new method of treating AIDS with a single injection. They genetically engineered B cells in vivo to allow these cells to produce the desired antibodies. The genetic engineering is done with a viral vector derived from a virus that has been engineered to cause no damage, but only to bring the gene encoding the antibody into the B cells in the body.
Researchers have been able to accurately introduce the gene encoding the antibody into the B-cell genome at the desired site. All of the model animals that have been treated have responded with a significant amount of the desired antibodies in their blood and have ensured that they can actually effectively neutralize the HIV virus in laboratory dishes.
The researchers say they combined the ability of CRISPR to introduce genes into the desired loci with the ability of viral vectors to bring the desired genes to the desired cells, thereby transforming the B cells in the patients. The researchers used two viral vectors from the adeno-associated virus (AAV) family, one vector to encode the desired antibody and the other to encode the CRISPR system. When CRISPR cuts into the desired locus in the B-cell genome, it directs the introduction of the gene: the gene encoding the antibody that targets only the HIV virus.
The researchers expect to be able to produce drugs for AIDS, other infectious diseases and certain cancers caused by viruses (such as cervical and head and neck cancers) in this way within the next few years.
