A cure for AIDS?

Genetic engineering may hold the key to curing AIDS.

Once inside the body, the often-lethal HIV virus that causes AIDS is hard to stamp out, partly because the virus incorporates itself into the genes of normal cells. That makes it hard to target with conventional drugs.

Now a research team at Temple University has engineered a way to get hold of those cells and prevent them from reproducing.

Using gene-editing technology known as CRISPR, the team delivered genes to the HIV virus’ DNA that make it impossible for HIV genes to reproduce.

In tests in mice, the technique eliminated 60 percent to 95 percent of the HIV virus.

TRENDPOST: Years of testing and refinement lie ahead for this approach to curing AIDS. Meanwhile, the method opens a new pathway for similar research that may speed us to an AIDS cure by 2050.