• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
Friday, June 9, 2023
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • CONTACT US
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Immunology

Scientists use stem cells to create HIV resistance

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
June 11, 2014
in Immunology
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

Yuet Wai Kan of the University of California, San Francisco and colleagues have created HIV-resistant white blood cells by editing the genomes of induced pluripotent stem cells. The researchers inserted genes with a mutation that confers resistance to HIV into stem cells. White blood cells grown from these stem cells were HIV resistant. The research appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A false-color scanning electron micrograph of a T cell

A false-color scanning electron micrograph of a T cell. Photo Credit: NIH

The HIV virus attacks CD+4 T cells, a type of white blood cell, by locking onto a protein called CCR5. A small number of people of European descent have a mutation in the gene that codes for CCR5. HIV infection progresses more slowly in people with one copy of this mutation, known as CCR5Δ32, than in people without the mutation. Those who are homozygous for CCR5Δ32 are resistant to HIV infection.

Inserting genes with the CCR5Δ32 mutation into cells of people suffering from HIV infection could cure them of the virus. Previously, scientists tried doing this by transplanting stem cells from people with natural HIV resistance into people with HIV. In a well known case, Timothy Ray Brown, an HIV patient, received stem cells from the bone marrow of someone with the mutation. After the procedure, signs of HIV infection disappeared.

Unfortunately, because so few people naturally carry the CCR5Δ32 mutation, finding enough donors to treat all HIV patients would virtually be impossible. It would be better if scientists could create the mutation in people with the infection. Researchers have tried disrupting normal copies of the gene that codes for CCR5, so the virus could not latch on to the protein. However, this might not be a good idea, as completely destroying the gene could have an unknown harmful effect.

Kan and his team thought a preferable solution would be to recreate the CCR5Δ32 mutation in pluripotent stem cells. People with this mutation usually are healthy, so the team didn’t think this would cause any problems. They generated stem cells homozygous for CCR5Δ32, using a new method of genome editing that relies on the CRISPR-Cas9 system, a bacterial immune system that works by splicing DNA from invading viruses into the bacteria’s own DNA.

White blood cells derived from the stem cells were HIV resistant. These white blood cells were not CD+4 T-cells. However, previous attempts to modify the CCR5 gene in CD+4 T cells of HIV-infected patients, using an older genome editing method, show that patients receiving this treatment would require repeated T-cell transplants. The researchers suggest creating HIV resistant stem cells, which would later develop into all kinds of blood cells.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by the University of California.

Share17Tweet11Share3ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

IMAGE

UMass Amherst grad student awarded fellowship for food allergy research

July 23, 2021
IMAGE

Less-sensitive COVID-19 tests may still achieve optimal results if enough people tested

July 22, 2021

Public trust in CDC, FDA, and Fauci holds steady, survey shows

July 20, 2021

USC study shows male-female differences in immune cell function

July 19, 2021
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • plants

    Plants remove cancer causing toxins from air

    42 shares
    Share 17 Tweet 11
  • Element creation in the lab deepens understanding of surface explosions on neutron stars

    36 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • Deep sea surveys detect over five thousand new species in future mining hotspot

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9
  • How life and geology worked together to forge Earth’s nutrient rich crust

    35 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Preparing the stage for 6G: A fast and compact transceiver for Sub-THz frequencies

New method takes the uncertainty out of oxide semiconductor layering

Researchers to explore potential of new treatment against vascular dementia

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 51 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In