HIV Gene Therapy Stabilised Blood Of Infected Patients

Five HIV patients who had not responded to drugs, were given disabled HIV which carried genes that halted HIV reproduction, and experienced either lower or stabilized levels of HIV in their blood, say researchers from the University of Pennsylvania.You can read about this trial in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.The results of this research could eventually lead the way to effective gene therapy for treating HIV, and replacing antiretroviral drugs. Existing treatments with antiretroviral drugs face the ever-growing problem of drug resistance.Even though this trial was just looking at the safety and feasibility aspects, the researchers reported some other benefits.All five patients, who had not responded to two courses of antiretroviral drugs, were given their own T cells, about 10 billion of them. The T cells had been taken from their blood, purified and altered genetically so that they could carry an altered version of HIV. The altered HIV carried an antisense RNA molecule. This molecule stops the HIV from reproducing inside infected cells.After nine months, one of the patients experienced a huge fall in viral load, the other four either experienced some drop, or no increase. 4 of the volunteers experienced either raised or sustained T-cell levels. The modified cells were still inside the patients a long time after they were infused into them, say the researchers.The scientists told people not to raise their hopes, as the trial was very small and monitoring must be done over a longer period. Just because a handful of patients had good results does not mean it works equally well for everyone.As gene therapy is expensive, it is not expected to help the majority of people with HIV/AIDS, most of whom are poor and come from countries unable to offer costly treatments to their populations.http://www.med.upenn.edu