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Researchers Modify T-Cells, Make Them HIV Resistant
Posted by
ScuttleMonkey
on Wed Jul 02, 2008 04:26 PM
from the changing-the-locks dept.
from the changing-the-locks dept.
DieNadel writes to share that naturally occurring proteins called "zinc fingers" are being used in a new approach to AIDS treatment. Using modified T-Cells with the zinc fingers, researchers at the Pennsylvania School of Medicine have shown a reduction in viral load in mice. "'By inducing mutations in the CCR5 gene using zinc finger proteins, we've reduced the expression of CCR5 surface proteins on T cells, which is necessary for the AIDS virus to enter these immune system cells,' explains first author Elena Perez, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Penn. 'This approach stops the AIDS virus from entering the T cells because it now has an introduced error into the CCR5 gene.'"
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Zinc you say? (Score:4, Funny)
Aren't we having a zinc shortage [slashdot.org]? Get it from these fingers!!
OMGZombies! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:OMGZombies! (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
law of unintended consequences... (Score:5, Insightful)
what *else* do these surface proteins on the T cell do?
maybe there is something those altered structures do that we will miss when they stop performing their function...
not everything in the body is superfluous like the appendix or wisdom teeth.
Re:law of unintended consequences... (Score:5, Funny)
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Re:law of unintended consequences... (Score:5, Informative)
T-cells are part of the immune system, and perhaps you remember this recent infamous TGN1412 experiment involving T-Cells [wikipedia.org]
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Re:law of unintended consequences... (Score:5, Funny)
No, not zombies, corpses.
So... pre-zombies?
We scientific types prefer to call them zombie precursors.
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Re:law of unintended consequences... (Score:5, Informative)
Some people are born with a mutation on their CCR5 gene and therefore do not have a working CCR5 receptor on the surface of their T cells. These rare individuals are immune to HIV infection and seemingly are not affected by the non-functional CCR5 protein. The zinc finger approach aims to mimic this natural immunity.
It would appear that these surface proteins are "superfluous", or at least not really necessary.
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Re:law of unintended consequences... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:law of unintended consequences... (Score:4, Insightful)
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Re:law of unintended consequences... (Score:4, Informative)
Well, I am no AIDS expert but from what I understand is HIV does not really kill anybody. AIDS the resulting condition of HIV, is Auto Immune Difficency Sydrome. Basically you immune system stops working and all the other little virus out there take over start to take over all your other cells and with nothing to stop them; that kills you.
So if you screw-up someones immune system in the name of HIV proofing and that causes it to not work then they will have AIDS anyway even if you do manage to kill off the HIV infection. So yea if it turns out these things are "important" you might destroy the immune system faster then HIV would have.
Parent
Barclay's Protomorphosis Syndrome (Score:5, Funny)
Haven't we learned not to modify T-Cells already?
This is probably good news (Score:5, Insightful)
But this technology may provide a way to defend against this virus. By changing the "shape" of our T-cells it will prevent the virus from recognizing its target. This would render it ineffective and be effective against the numerous variants.
Of course, this is still early in the development cycle. There's always the chance of unintended consequences...
Re:This is probably good news (Score:5, Informative)
This does not make the T-cell invisible to HIV, it sets a trap.
T Cell (in sexy voice): How about it, Mr. HIV, do you want to come into my place?
HIV: Om nom nom let me put my arms around you baby... wait, where the fuck do I put my left arm? I can't penetrate without both arms around you!
T cell: All your binding proteins are belong to me.
HIV: I'm going to go hit on someone else. Let go of my right arm, you bastard!
T cell: Om nom nom
Well ok, it's a stretch, the T cell doesn't eat the virus at the end.
But the zinc fingers don't disguise the T-cell, they keep the T-cell from expressing one of the antigens on its surface. So instead of the two binding sites needed for the T-cell to be infected, it only shows one.
Parent
Re:This is probably good news (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Worst summary ever... (Score:5, Informative)
Talk about completely misreading even the one paragraph blurb. Zinc fingers are a large group of protein sub-structures which are used to interact with DNA. This group used them to induce a specific mutation which now seems to be HIV resistant How long this will last is really up in the air though, HIV and all other RNA viruses evolve very quickly.
Alternatively: (Score:5, Funny)
Brilliant! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So what? (Score:5, Funny)
Parent
Re:So what? (Score:4, Funny)
Because....
We run out of zinc, jackass!!!
Parent
Re:So what? (Score:5, Funny)
Just because the Mayans calendar ended then means what exactly? They didn't even invent, let alone UTILIZE the wheel...
Not only that but they were able to predict "the end of the world" and yet utterly failed to foresee the end of their own civilization?
Parent
Re:So what? (Score:5, Interesting)
Just because the Mayans calendar ended then means what exactly? They didn't even invent, let alone UTILIZE the wheel...
Not only that but they were able to predict "the end of the world" and yet utterly failed to foresee the end of their own civilization?
This isn't actually true. The Mayan long count actually continues after 2012. The Mayans actually thought the world wouldn't end until sometime around 3000. The cause for the misinterpretation is in the way the Mayans wrote the date. There's a whole other digit that usually gets left out, because they saw no need to write the entire long count for things thousands of years in the future, but on a handful of totems you can actually see the entire long count for the end of the world date, and it's not until the 3000s, so we're good for a while.
Parent
Re:So what? (Score:5, Funny)
Mod +1 relieved
Phew
Parent
Re:So what? (Score:5, Funny)
As opposed to what, being a good "con" and doing what?
Conning people?
Parent
Re:Messin around with T-Cells a bad thing? (Score:4, Insightful)
What happens when someone with AIDS rapes someone?
What happens when someone with AIDS passes it along to their unborn child (a rare occasion now due to modern medicine)?
Get off your high horse tool. Some people are infected not because of their behavior, but fate. A fix should be available for them, as well as everyone else infected.
Parent