New Hope in AIDS: HIV Treatment with "Genetic Scissors"

Scientists used the Nobel Prize-winning gene editing method to develop an HIV treatment. Dutch experts announced that they managed to clear the virus from human cells with the CRISPR technique, also called "genetic scissors".
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, announced that they have cleared HIV from human cells with the Nobel Prize-winning CRISPR gene editing method.

With the CRISPR method, which functions like "scissors that work at the molecular level", unwanted sections of the cell's DNA can be cut out.

Scientists announced that they managed to clear HIV from human DNA in a laboratory environment.
Sharing their research results at the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, experts aim to develop a comprehensive HIV treatment. However, it is noted that much more research is needed on this subject.
35 THOUSAND PEOPLE IN TURKEY, 40 MILLION PEOPLE IN THE WORLD

HIV, transmitted through body fluids, causes immune deficiency. Early diagnosis and regular treatment enable patients to live their lives normally.

Current drugs stop the spread of the virus that settles in different tissues, but cannot eliminate it.

According to statistics, 35 thousand people in Turkey and approximately 40 million people in the world are living with HIV.

The advanced stage of infection caused by HIV is called AIDS.
WHAT IS CRISPR TECHNOLOGY?

CRISPR (Gene modification technology) was discovered in 2012. In the CRISPR method, the "Cas9" protein is used like scissors to cut DNA.

With this method, scientists cut disease-causing DNA in human cells in a laboratory environment.

One must be very careful when applying this method because it may result in cutting more DNA than necessary. This can cause important genes to change, causing cancer.

SOURCE: NTV NEWS