When It Rains...

 

A is Articles & Abundance.  Both of which I found this morning.  I found 3 & none of them are too long or jargony.  I'll start with the topic of CRISPR.  Many are aware this is a method to edit cellular DNA.  This has been a topic of many medical research issues.  This piece covers an updated report on its use in fighting  dormant HIV hiding in a body.

This next article is taking the same approach, but with drugs.  The technique goes after proteins in HIV affected cells, called Nef.  This approach has been used mostly in cancer studies.  The method uses PROTACs, a molecule that binds Nef proteins.  This will signal the cell is degraded & needs to be eliminated.   In doing so, removing virus.

The last article is disappointing,  It's about the fight against HIV's failure to make aware & educate people about the topic & options available to the public.  The piece has a video about how many at-risk Americans are unaware of PrEP.  It was bad enough the numbers aware were so low, but also what was being defined as at-risk.  The people shown in the video were all mature, Black women.  Maybe this was a topic piece or for done for some limited exposure.  But I think it missed the mark.  I don't support PrEP, but people should know everything they can about HIV & the available options. 

That's all for now.  Have a look at these.  The video info is in the here & now.  The drug & CRISPR pieces are in development.  Take care.

Cya...

Problematic Pieces...

 

The article I found this morning is a bit troublesome.  The title is, "Gene Therapy Can Effectively Eliminate HIV Infection."   The article covers the same info I did for a recent post.  It discussed deactivating the CCR5 mutation & snipping the virus from the cell.  The concept CRISPR has been around a bit.  The method has been studied for a while, still it isn't a proven strategy.  Thus far, it's been used in humanized mice.

Even though the title infers there's a cure for HIV via gene therapy, there isn't at this time.   Maybe this can be made to work in mice 100% of the time.  That doesn't mean it will automatically translate to any other animals or humans. 

Still the title remains & many people will read that & think they can be cured tomorrow.  Articles like this can do far more harm than they will inform of future possibilities.  Before you write, know your audience.  Albeit there was some serious jargon in this article, it was written to lean towards lay people, not medical professionals.  Even though the title is technically accurate, it's click bait & a false promise.  This type of writing is misleading, harmful & quite frankly disgusting.

Cya...

Another CRISPR ...

 

This article is a bit wordy, but worth it.  It's about reasearch using a dual CRISPR approach to cure humanized mice of HIV.   Some points;  this is research, CRISPR is gene editing, humanized mice carry human genes, cells or tissues.  

While on a long acting HIV medication, this dual approach would directly attack & remove HIV from infected cells.  Then it would inactivate the CCR5 mutations in these cells.  This similar to what happens to humans who have been cured via transplant.

This is still in the research phase & these are mice, even if humanized.  Even if this does work, they will have to ensure to impact every aspect in the body.  If not, the dormant HIV would eventually return.

This may sound like the rantings of a mad scientist in a horror movie, but the science is grounded.  Despite the mixed species aprroach, this may lead to a possible cure not involving some one getting a bone marrow transplant to treat leukemia. 

Something to keep an eye on.  Take cae.

Cya...

Hope Basket...

 

2 days ago, I posted on a new form of genetic editing to white blood cells to fight HIV.  Gene modification & CRISPR aren't new, but they're still novel.  These researchers are touting an injection that would be the final treatment for the virus.  

Since that, almost every article I've seen has been over this topic.  Would this be great?  That depends on a lot of things, like affordability & possible reactions.  But more so, is that this is still not certain.

Research brings new ideas to the table fairly often. Many of them, if not most, don't pan out.  They may add to the knowledge base, but they aren't the silver bullet people sought.  Will this be?  I don't know.  I doubt anyone does at this time.  

What I'm saying is, while this looks promising, it might not be.  Don't pin your hopes of this, it could fail.   This is just 1 basket & you don't have that many eggs to lose.

Cya...