Study Gives Hope of Altering Genes to Repel HIV

Published in the New York Times, this article gives hope to a possible cure to HIV. The treatment involves zeroing in on a particular gene and disables it; a method called "gene editing". In this particular study scientist are eliminating a protein that in located on immune cells that the virus must latch onto in order to invade the cell. The goal is that enough cells can be engineered to repel the virus so that antiviral drugs are no longer needed and perhaps a cure will be discovered.
The initial study was not performed for efficacy, but rather safety, to see if immune cells can in fact, be altered without harming the patients. In some cases, during the pilot study just altering the immune cells had already helped fight infections in some of the patients.
There are still many "what if's" that need to be solved and then patients must ask themselves if they want this complex treatment when many people can keep their infection under control with a few pills a day. Patients who dislike the side effects of the pills and the expense of them may wish to use this treatment in the future as it could be cheaper! Right now scientist are trying to increase the proportion of edited cells.
It will be a very happy day when HIV infected people can say they are HIV negative. Finding advances to curing HIV should give hope to all people who suffer from "incurable" diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and other autoimmune diseases.
The original article about this study can be found in the New England Journal of Medicine.