HIV can be treated now. A group of Israeli scientists have developed a drug that can neutralize and can be one time cure for the disease.
Highlights
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HIV can now be treated with a one time injection.
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It is developed by a group of Israeli scientists.
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This drug does gene editing thus treating the disease.
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It is done by developing the type B white blood cells that activate the immune system that create the antibodies.
HIV is a dangerous disease that has destroyed many lives. It happens when human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) strikes the immune system. when not treated converts into an acquired immunodeficiency syndrome(AIDS). HIV was first detected in certain types of chimpanzees. It is suspected to have infected the humans around late 1800s. At that time, there was no treatment for this disease.
In 2020,approximately 1 million people died due to HIV/ AIDS. More than a million people were newly infected by this syndrome.
Now the bio-engineers of Israel’s Tel Aviv university(TAU) have demonstrated a new drug that can cure HIV. This is a groundbreaking discovery which can help millions if studied further.
HIV- can the drug cure it?
A team from the School of Neurobiology led the drug research. This was held at the George S. Wise Faculty of Life sciences in Tel Aviv University. The team alleged to have developed a revolutionary treatment that beat the virus with a one time vaccine. It has the potential of bringing an enormous improvement in the condition of the patients.
B cells are a type of white blood cell that is in charge of generating antibodies against the bacteria and virus that are formed in the bone marrow. These cells go into the lymphatic and blood system after maturing. They move to different body parts from there. Scientists were also able to engineer the B cells in the body with viral carriers from viruses that were also artificial.
When these orchestrated B cells confront the virus, the HIV virus motivates and encourages them to divide. Scientists have utilized this division to fight it off and if by any chance the virus changes, the cells will also change according to the virus to fight it.
According to Dr. Barzel, lead author of the study, the genetic engineering is carried out through viral carriers gained from HIV viruses that have been developed so that they can carry the gene of the antibody into the patient’s B-cells without any harm.
HIV- Conclusion
The detection of the study is published in the journal Nature, which describes the antibodies as “safe, potent, and scalable. It may be appropriate not only for the infections but also the treatment of non- communicable conditions such as cancer and many auto-immune diseases.”
The team used CRISPR, the technology established on a bacterial immune system, to fight against viruses to genetically modify the virus and the bacteria used the system as a type of molecular search engine to pinpoint viral chain and cut them in order to stop them.
Researchers are expecting to create medicine for HIV/ AIDS and other infectious diseases over the next few years.
