Doctor Adi Barzel from Tel Aviv University proudly announces: we have engineered type B white blood cells outside the human body, and it is one of the few cases in the world. According to research, these white blood cells trigger the immune system to produce more antibodies that neutralize HIV, the virus that causes AIDS for which there is currently no definitive cure.
“Based on this study, we can expect that in the next few years we will be able to produce a drug for AIDS, other infectious diseases and some types of cancer caused by a virus, such as cervical cancer, head and neck cancer and more,” continues Dr. Barzel in a Institute press release.
Goodbye AIDS with a single injection?
“We have developed an innovative treatment that can defeat the virus with a one-off injection: it can bring huge improvements to patients' conditions. When the engineered B-type white blood cells encounter the virus, the virus encourages them to divide: and if the virus mutates, the B-type white blood cells will too. This may be the first ever drug that evolves over time and defeats the virus without the need for new treatments."
What makes B-type white blood cells so important in the treatment of HIV?
Over the past two decades, medicine has made tremendous progress in the fight against HIV. New treatments are now able to control the virus, transforming it from a universally fatal disease into a manageable disease. Despite this progress, however, we have not yet managed to develop a long-term cure.
This genetic breakthrough involving type B white blood cells marks the first step in the roadmap leading to a possible vaccine. In the study published in the journal Nature (I link it here) the team explains that HIV destroys white blood cells, which are critical to a patient's immune defense. The new treatment involves injecting genetically modified B-type white blood cells into the patient's body. They will push the immune system “from within” to produce more antibodies that kill the virus.
“It is the first case in the world where we have been able to accurately introduce antibodies to a desired site in the B cell genome. All laboratory models that were given the treatment responded and had high amounts of the desired antibody in the blood. We produced the antibody from blood and made sure that it was actually effective in neutralizing the HIV virus."
The merit? All of CRISPR, the researchers say. We will never tire of saying it: only one Nobel it is little for such a discovery.
