Researchers at UNMC and the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University have announced that for the first time they have eliminated the virus responsible for AIDS from the genomes of living animals.
Researchers say the study "marks a critical step toward the development of a possible cure for human HIV infection." the study was reported online today in the journal Nature Communications
“Our study shows that treatment to suppress HIV replication and gene editing therapy, when given sequentially, can eliminate HIV from cells and organs of infected animals,” said Dr. Kamel Khalili of the Comprehensive NeuroAIDS Center at Temple, who is a senior investigator on the study along with Dr. Howard Gendelman at UNMC.
“This achievement could not have been possible without an extraordinary team effort that included virologists, immunologists, molecular biologists, pharmacologists, and pharmaceutical experts,” says Dr. Gendelman, Director of the Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases at UNMC. “Only by pooling our resources together were we able to make this groundbreaking discovery.”