Study might lead to new AIDS treatment

PHILADELPHIA, July 3 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists say they've used tiny proteins called zinc fingers to modify T-cell receptor genes in a study that may lead to a new type of AIDS treatment.

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and colleagues at Sangamo BioSciences Inc. of Richmond, Calif., said their goal is to use modified T cells from an HIV-infected person for that person's own treatment. They showed that, by using the zinc fingers, they could reduce the viral load of immune-deficient mice transplanted with engineered T cells.

The researchers, led by Dr. Elena Perez, an assistant professor of pediatrics, and Dr. Carl June, a professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Penn, are planning a clinical trial in humans in which T cells from HIV patients would have their CCR5 gene -- necessary for the AIDS virus to enter immune system cells -- deliberately knocked out.

The modified T cells could then be infused back into the patients to re-establish their immune system and decrease their viral load.

The research is reported online in the journal Nature Biotechnology.