Could Crispr cure HIV?
The first gene-editing therapies for HIV/Aids are entering trials but the virus is proving once again that it is a master at evading eradication
Two years ago, the UK became the first country to approve Casgevy, a Crispr-based therapy for the blood disorders sickle cell disease and β-thalassaemia. This year saw the world’s first personalised Crispr therapy for a baby boy with a rare genetic condition. Such gene therapy breakthroughs have paved the way for over 250 clinical trials, some with the potential to treat once-incurable diseases, including HIV/Aids.
Recent studies investigating Crispr’s potential to cure HIV have been encouraging. ‘The long-term goal is for a one-time or limited treatment that either excises or permanently inactivates HIV DNA,’ says molecular biologist and biochemist Elena Herrera Carrillo, at the Institute of Parasitology and Biomedicine López-Neyra-CSIC in Granada, Spain. However, Herrera Carrillo cautions that we are still far from the clinic. ‘The data are promising but remain at a very premature stage.’