Virus World

Researchers say they've come one step closer to finding a potential cure for HIV after they successfully eliminated the virus in living mice for the first time in history.

Using a combination of CRISPR gene editing technology and a therapeutic treatment called LASER ART, scientists at Temple University and the University of Nebraska Medical Center said they erased HIV DNA from the genomes of animals in what they call an unprecedented study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications.

The virus is currently treated with antiretroviral therapy (ART), which suppresses it from replicating and prevents many patients in the U.S. from developing AIDS. ART does not rid the body of HIV, though, and if a patient stops treatment the virus will continue to replicate.  But now researchers say they’re able to destroy the virus in “humanized” mice, which were injected with human bone marrow to imitate the human immune system.

The study authors used two different tools to combat the virus: CRISPR technology and LASER ART. The virus did not return in nine of the 21 mice in which the method was tested, according to Khalili.