Now his body controls it by itself, and researchers are trying to perfect the gene editing that made this possible. “Gene therapy techniques have advanced greatly,” said Dr. Otto Yang of the UCLA AIDS Institute, one place working on this. They use a gene editing tool called zinc finger nucleases, which cut DNA at a precise spot to disable the HIV entryway gene. THE SILVER LININGThough the initial gene editing experiments were disappointing, there was a silver lining. His study will try the same gene editing — disabling the gene that makes the HIV entryway — while keeping patients on strong antiviral medicines for at least a year before discontinuing them.

Source: Egypt Independent February 13, 2018 06:00 UTC