Changing your Genes?

Gene Therapy - The next big jump in medical treatment?

An exciting new study has been recently published where researchers actually altered the genes of patients to make them more resistant to HIV.

There is a small subgroup in our population with a certain genetic marker that seems to prevent the HIV virus from infecting them. This is actually a structural change on the surface of their T-cells, rather than a chemical or drug we can use.

Researchers extracted T-cells from patients, then used a sophisticated technique to alter a gene in these cells before re-infusing them. They discovered the changed cells were resistant to HIV.

This study is extremely preliminary, but it may be that in the future gene alteration therapy will become commonplace. It is fascinating!