Italian Team Cures Wiskott-Aldrich Syndrome With the Help of HIV 109
New submitter tchernobog writes "An Italian team funded by Telethon and S. Raffaele of Milan, was able to cure six kids affected by lethal genetic diseases (in Italian, English video): the Wiskott-Aldrich syndrome and the metachromatic leukodystrophy. This is the culmination of a project lasted 15 years, and which cost more than 30M €; the researchers published some preliminary results last year in Nature, and are waiting for the results on more patients to submit another. The really interesting part is: they used a mix of advanced genetic techniques to achieve this result. Firstly, the DNA of a defective cell is corrected with a gene assembled in the lab. This procedure has been very dangerous for the past 20 years: that it can even be used is a good achievement alone. Secondly, the corrected DNA is propagated in the patient's body using a stripped-down version of HIV, of which less than 10% of its original genome remains. Might the feared HIV in reality prove to be salvation for some?"
Italy (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Holy crap (Score:5, Funny)
I'll be excited when they announce catgirls.
Oblig. XKCD (Score:5, Insightful)
http://xkcd.com/938/
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So... (Score:3)
So... they can make a disease now that re-sequences our DNA? Anyone else find that terrifying?
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Re:So... (Score:5, Insightful)
First of all, it doesn't resequence DNA (if that is really a valid concept). It just ADDS a small bit of DNA into the genome.
Just like viruses have been doing since, well, since there were viruses. But yes, it's potentially scary. So are nuclear weapons, particle beam accelerators and most politicians.
Man up here. It's a big, dangerous world.
And you're not getting out alive.
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If we're choosing deaths could you please point me to the particle beam accelerator que?
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start doing things like extending telomeres, and overiding sections related to aging with this, and you might just get out alive.
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"just" more cancers? That "just" means we don't fully understand the role of telomeres yet. They look like simple TTL counters. However, I have the feeling that, just as with most things in our bodies, they fulfill several different roles at different times or based on environmental triggers. I still think that if the cancers can be controlled, it would one of several very interesting options.
Biosciences, the final frontier... If I was 18 and had to decide what to study again, I'm very sure it would be some
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First of all, it doesn't resequence DNA (if that is really a valid concept). It just ADDS a small bit of DNA into the genome.
Just like viruses have been doing since, well, since there were viruses. But yes, it's potentially scary. So are nuclear weapons, particle beam accelerators and most politicians.
Man up here. It's a big, dangerous world.
And you're not getting out alive.
Speak for yourself. I plan on going up in the rapture with Jesus...
Ah, the Rapture. (Score:2)
Speak for yourself. I plan on going up in the rapture with Jesus...
Meh, no doubt so did most people present during the monologue of Matthew 16:27-28 [biblehub.com].
Ha ha, but clearly the joke was on them because Jesus must have known that the Wandering Jew [wikipedia.org] was standing just behind the disciples. I mean, that's basic Occam's Razor, right?
Right?
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Gene therapy has been a thing for a while now. This is not new.
Sure, could there be some Eugenics Wars using viruses to wipe out the weak and leave only the strong? Probably.
But there has been wars since humans have existed, before, and will continue even when (if) we leave the planet and become a fully developed space society. There will be rebels, space pirates and all those fun things just like always.
Even in a world where all the necessities of life were met and only luxuries costed any money, and ev
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as for the food being infected you could irradiate the food killing all of the contagions
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Ya can't fool me, that involves RAY-DEE-AY-SHUN, we all dun found out that stuff is bad for ya.
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That is right! Did you know that those ignorant suckers are not aware that light is radiation! Every second they spend outside they get bombarded with it! Fools! Sane people like us stay in basements and only come out at night.
Resident Evil (Score:3)
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in 50 - 75 years when documents are declassified you might hear about it. -Unless we have an Edward Snowden moment.
Or we have a Resident Evil moment...
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Yeah, well, may I speak for legions of geeks who say our idea of a Resident Evil Moment is a night with some wicked hot dark-haired, green-eyed babe who favors tight leather -- and is rather acrobatic.
Berlusconi (Score:1)
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The good news is that we got everything out and you will be fine.
The bad news is that we confused you with another patient and amputated your legs.
"stripped-down" (Score:5, Insightful)
There have been a number of these headlines the past few years and they all use the sensationalist headline of "HIV CURES DISEASE" which simply is not true. What is true is that genetic mechanisms that HIV, a lentivirus, uses to engineer cells are being re-purposed for medical benefit. The basic technique has been used in the laboratory for ages but the big headline here is not HIV but genetic engineering. This is as much HIV helping to cure a disease as getting X-rays at the dentist amounts to "DEATH RAY HELPS PREVENT CAVITIES!"
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Thanks for clearing that up, I obviously originally thought that the cure was to go down on a few dirty man-whores in a back alley, but I am glad researches found a better way to do it.
Re:"stripped-down" (Score:5, Insightful)
The basic technique has been used in the laboratory for ages
Yeah, a friend of mine worked for a private research lab a decade ago and they were curing MS in mice models using an HIV vector, as just SOP (the HIV vector part was already old at that point). BTW, they abandoned that work for something that could pay the bills as they didn't have a business model that could earn enough to pay for the FDA-mandated trials. He tells me this kind of thing happens at labs all over the country and when it's a for-profit lab, they don't publish if they're going to reuse part of the tech in their next endeavor.
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I am curious: Why HIV in particular? Aren't all viruses work by chaning genetic structure of a cell?
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Aren't all viruses work by chaning genetic structure of a cell?
HIV is really good at its job. Check here [kenyon.edu].
Fucking with HIV (Score:2)
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
Re:Fucking with HIV (Score:5, Funny)
What could POSSIBLY go wrong?
You could get HIV pregnant.
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Nah, only the retarded ones, like you. For the common good you know.
Or to put it differently, I challenge you to name one.
Science, bitches! (Score:2)
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Thats sort of like saying "only math can add these two numbers together".
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Thats sort of like saying "only math can add these two numbers together".
Some religious people can argue that faith can also add two numbers together, if you catch my drift...
It's not HIV any more... (Score:5, Insightful)
These stories always play off the "we're using scary HIV to cure you" angle, but they're just using components stolen from the HIV virus as tools or building-blocks to make something useful.
You might as well write a story that portrays bear-skin rugs as scary and dangerous because they were once part of a whole live bear.
And actually pretty much all of our recombinant DNA tools as well as many drugs like antibiotics are simply ancient things we stole from bacteria and other life forms. Somewhat annoyingly, Nature and 3+ billion years of evolution are still a lot better than we are at inventing things.
My definition of modern biology that I use to introduce it to computer people is: Hacking into ancient alien computer systems (stochastic digital computers not designed by the mind of man) to look for technology we can steal to cure cancer, solve world hunger, and produce renewable energy as well as whatever else we discover along the way.
G.
P.S. If you find this stuff exciting... (Score:5, Interesting)
MITx is offering the second session of their free massively open course 7.00x on Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life taught by one of the best teachers I have ever listened to, Eric Lander of MIT, which starts on Sept 10th:
https://www.edx.org/course/mit/7-00x/introduction-biology-secret-life/1014 [edx.org]
This class is mostly about the molecular biology machinery that makes cells work, and it should be fascinating to anyone who finds the way computers work interesting because most of what goes on at the cellular level is actually information processing and digital operations (though based on stochastic principles).
Warning: this class might make you want to (or wish you could) change your career path...
G.
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"Session" was the wrong term to use. It's the second time they're offering the class, and it's the complete class from the beginning, not a "part 2" as might have been suggested by my poor word choice :)
G.
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Re:It's not HIV any more... (Score:5, Interesting)
True. Depending on the processes involved, the chance that a live intact HIV virus inadvertently makes it through the system into a patient is probably greater than getting home from the rug store to find out that a live bear made it through the rug making process.
But on the other hand one of the researchers involved (or even TFA) might be able to explain to your satisfaction that the chances of these two different events are actually quite similar due to the methods being employed to produce the synthetic biology product.
G.
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According to the pictures I've seen in Playboy when I'm flipping between articles, it seems bear skin rugs contribute more than 10% toward potential reproductive activities (fireplaces another 10%, amazing what we can turn these destructive forces to). I haven't seen follow ups to know if there's been any distinct mutations as the result of any reproduction due to the bear skin rugs or fires.
Genetic Engineering (Score:3)
Lol, can't wait for the advertising disclaimers (Score:3)
Warning: This product might give you nausea, dry mouth, or AIDS.
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Hmm, for diseases we are talking about AIDS is wastly preferable to the original condition.
and when they have kids (Score:2)
More than 30M (Score:2)
Is still only 5 million per life saved, which I think is a fair bargain. That's of course if they simply stop there. 30M for the development of a single drug is chump change in Pharma industry. 30M for a process that will define a whole new branch of medicine is amazing.
Re:What about the fundementalists. (Score:5, Funny)
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It's cool. HIV has been around long enough that that patents on it have all expired.
yeah but its genome would still be covered by copyright
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Re:What about the fundementalists. (Score:5, Funny)
HIV kills the sinful but cures the sick. There's no inconsistency.
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HIV kills the sinful but cures the sick. There's no inconsistency.
Why don't they call it the XOR virus instead?
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does that mean we have a Loving God who doesn't hate random groups of people.
Nah, he still hates the gays. But he loves kids, and is just being efficient about how he dishes out karma.
Re:What about the fundementalists. (Score:4, Insightful)
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...which God allowed after the fall.
That 'God' has a torture chamber and 'allows' things at all is a sure sign that your making this God thing up, bubbie. Oy!
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I hate this misuse of fundamentalists. Call them extremists. Those people are not basing their ideology on the fundamentals. There is no Biblical foundation for believing this way.
Re:What about the fundementalists. (Score:5, Insightful)
But they claim that they do. And in in the case of religion, if you take out the spurious claims, you're basically left with no beliefs at all.
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This is not in the subset of posts I've made that I consider insightful. This is a case where I posted something I knew to be flamebait because I thought it was funny, but it's not a very good argument. :-/
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Your post probably lies somewhere in the intersection of the set of insightful postings, funny postings and "oops, I accidentally" postings.
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you're basically left with no beliefs at all.
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I say call them "strawmanists"; there arent really that many people who believe in the strawman GP has constructed.
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I would call myself evangelical, and Ive only ever heard the position stated above coming from "the other side of the debate", or the WBC (whom noone takes seriously and can hardly be described as either fundamentalist or evangelical).
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Re: What about the fundementalists. (Score:2)
I'm not a geneticist, but I'm guessing any retrovirus could be used. HIV is likely used because its been the focus of the most research, and thus the genome is well known and cultures are readily available.
Re: What about the fundementalists. (Score:1)
Superstitions aside, this is an amazing Nobel grade development, if peer reviewed and confirmed of course.