Post by Udeze Nestor (@Nesmoore1)

🧬 What If Scientists Could Delete HIV?

Scientists are exploring a remarkable possibility: using CRISPR gene editing to cut HIV’s hidden DNA out of infected cells.
Unlike antiretroviral medicines, which keep HIV suppressed, CRISPR aims at the viral DNA itself—the genetic material that allows HIV to hide inside cells.

In laboratory studies, researchers have successfully targeted HIV DNA and reduced its ability to produce new virus. But there’s a major challenge: reaching every hidden HIV-infected cell safely.

So, has HIV been cured? Not yet.
Human trials and further research are still needed. But if scientists can solve these challenges, gene editing could one day transform the treatment of HIV—and perhaps other persistent viral infections.

Source: Hu, W., et al. RNA-directed gene editing specifically eradicates latent and prevents new HIV-1 infection.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(31), 11461–11466.

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