HIV "abandon evil from good" can help treat immunodeficiency

HIV is "notorious" for destroying the body's immune system. However, a team of researchers is trying to transform it into a "beneficial and harmless" vector for gene therapy to help immunodeficiency patients regain immune function.
in a new issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a team of researchers from the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and others report that they have developed a gene therapy and recruited eight babies between the ages of 2 and 14 months, all of them with "bubble boy disease." This is a rare congenitic immunodeficiency disorder associated with a mutation in a gene called IL2rg, which affects bone marrow hema production and produces abnormal blood cells that in turn cause immunodeficiency.
researchers obtained hematopoietic stem cells from the patient's bone marrow and then used the modified HIV virus as a vector to transfer the normal IL2rg gene to hematopoietic stem cells, which were then injected into the patient. The patient also received a small dose of the chemotherapy drug, white anti-anthosis, to help improve blood-making function.
results, compared with other previously tried carriers, the use of modified HIV as a carrier is better. For example, the previous method could only restore T-cell function, not fully restore other immune cell function, and after 6 to 24 months of treatment with the new method, 8 patients produced all the cell types needed to fight infection, and some patients were successfully vaccinated like those with normal immune function to further improve immunity.
the researchers said that although some subjects had some side effects, such as low plates after treatment, the treatment was generally safe and did not produce serious or lasting side effects. But the researchers also stress that further research is needed on patients to determine long-term outcomes. (Source: Xinhua News Agency)
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