Researchers Modify T-Cells, Make Them HIV Resistant

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.'"

Re:So what?

[Piranhaa]

These guys [idtechex.com] claim we have 20-30 years at the current rare we're using Zinc. It's the 23rd most abundant element in the earth's crust. I don't see this being an issue right now (2011), but will inevitably be one

Re:law of unintended consequences...

[swid27]

I didn't RTFA, but I'm guessing they're referring to CCR5-delta32 [wikipedia.org]. While somewhat rare overall, it's most common in people of Northern European descent. The good news: increased HIV and smallpox resistance. The bad news: decreased overall T cell function and West Nile resistance.

Re:law of unintended consequences...

[PCM2]

whatever function they have, it's probably not as important as not dying of AIDS

Upon what data do you base that assumption? Is not dying of AIDS more important than not dying in screaming agony? [naturalnews.com]

Re:Why don't we use HIV cells behavior against the

[PCM2]

That's pretty much what all AIDS drugs have attempted to do, thus far. Making fake cells seems problematic, since you would have to replace the patient's own cells with them until all the virus has been "cleaned up." But interrupting the life cycle of the virus is the main goal of therapy. Viruses typically use enzymes and proteins to move in and out of human cells. Influenza, for example, uses hemagglutinin to break its way into the cell, then later uses neuraminidase to break back out when it's ready to spread further. If you can somehow block the action of either of these proteins, you have managed to disrupt the viral life cycle. If it can't spread, it should eventually die off. Thus, if a doctor gives you medicine to fight a bad flu, he's probably giving you what is called a "neuraminidase inhibitor." Scientists have tried to create many HIV drugs along similar lines. The problem, as always, is that the HIV virus mutates so rapidly that you can't assume that what worked an hour ago will still work now (literally).

Re:SLASHDOT SUX0RZ

[Smartcowboy]

What could possibly go wrong?

Re:So what?

[saxoholic]

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.