New treatment direction for people living with HIV/AIDS

HIV – Human Immuno-deficiency Virus is a disease caused by a virus that has the ability to weaken the immune system when it enters the human body. AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) is the final stage of HIV, at this time, the patient is certain of death.

The dangers of HIV/AIDS

On June 5, 1981, the US Centers for Disease Control reported the world’s first case of HIV/AIDS. Since then, this disease has become an obsession for all of humanity and has become the “disease of the century” with more than 79 million people infected, 37 million deaths (According to WHO).

So why does HIV exist for more than 40 years and people still can’t stop it? That is because the ability of this virus to mutate itself, each time it is cloned, the new generation is a little different from the old one and makes it impossible for scientists to create a vaccine to kill this disease.

Currently, the only method for treatment is to use ARV drugs for the rest of the patient’s life. ARV is a drug that inhibits and reduces the growth of the virus in the patient’s body, but does not completely destroy the virus that causes the disease.

A new direction of treatment

However, recently, a study at Tel Aviv University (Israel) conducted by Dr. Adi Barzel and graduate student Alessio Nehmad published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature has found a new treatment for the disease. people with HIV/AIDS.

The team achieved initial success in neutralizing the virus with a vaccine developed by B white blood cells (a type of B lymphocyte white blood cell responsible for making antibodies against the virus, bacteria, etc. formed in the bone marrow) activates the immune system, producing HIV-neutralizing antibodies.

B lymphocytes.

These B cells are edited using CRISPR technology to produce special B cells. When these cells encounter a virus, it is stimulated by the virus and encouraged to divide to produce antibodies against the virus. And this method has solved the headache of scientists for 40 years, which is that these B cells can mutate themselves to produce the right antibodies if the HIV virus mutates. cure the patients.

This method is currently being tested in phase 2 on humans after phase 1, laboratory testing has been completely successful. In addition, if successful, this method will also open an opportunity to treat a number of other infectious diseases and some types of cancer caused by viruses.