Friday, November 6, 2009
HIV used for good??
Two boys under went a study that used HIV (disabled so it couldn't spread AIDS) to transport a healthy gene. This disease would be lethal so this development is extremely exciting. Also, this is the first successful gene therapy used to help brain disease. The reason the HIV virus was used is because it is one of the few viruses that can stick to a stem cell and stay their permanently. Two years after the virus was implanted in the boys they show no sign worsening brain damage. Good news!!
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9 comments:
Wow. Who would have guessed that one of the deadliest viruses out there could have the potential to do some amazing good!
This is amazing! This study also justifies the necessity of stem cell research, because obviously it is serving us good.
That's awesome! Makes me kinda wonder how the future will be like with the slow progress of curing diseases and disorders.
Subversion is an amazing tool; better than destruction or eradication.
That is absolutely amazing! It's really cool how they used the HIV virus to actually help to boys. I have to wonder, how do they disable the HIV virus so that it will not spread AIDS? Is there any way they could possibly do that in the future for people who are HIV positive? It seems like an exciting possibility.
This post is so cool! I agree, whoever knew that such a deadly disease could have such an impact and have the actual potential to do some good. With this, I'm sure most people won't get all crazy over HIV.
This blog is really interesting! Sooner or later, we will find a way to cure cancer! WOOT!
Well, when they say that they used the HIV virus to do gene therapy, they probably meant that they used HIV's protein shell. What makes causes AIDS is the genetic material packed inside the HIV virus. Viruses are basically shells made of protein with special markers or tags on the outside. They then find cells in which to inject their DNA or RNA and in HIV's case, a reverse transcriptase. What makes HIV so useful as well as deadly is that it is very good at doing its job...which is basically entering a cell, altering the DNA, and making more of itself. By replacing the deadly RNA in HIV, it can be used to "fix" the DNA in certain cells and in this case, help the two kids with their brain disease.
~Victor Hung
This is the kind of research that the government under Obama should be putting its efforts into. rather than spending over 300 million tax dollars to fund a colleges study about the sex lives of freshmen women.
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