I was in HIV research for a time. I was unimpressed by this paper's title, introduction, methods, etc, until the part where they discussed correcting infected c

I was in HIV research for a time. I was unimpressed by this paper's title, introduction, methods, etc, until the part where they discussed correcting infected cells derived from human donors. As a general note, a running joke in the field is that "anyone can cure HIV in vitro", so I practically tuned out the sections where they discussed the work in T-cell cultures. >Lentivirus (LV) mediated Cas9/gRNA delivery suppresses HIV-1 infection in human T-cells. That should be the actual headline of this paper. Yes, it's a big deal that researchers were able to use a lentiviral vector (HIV without the disease causing bits) to genetically alter infected CD4 T-cells. This is a shot at a cure. Simple infection of a person with the CRISPR-fortified lentiviral vector is a new therapy idea which has the potential to trump the current antiretroviral therapies because it can reduce or remove the HIV "viral reservoir"-- the places in the body where HIV can hang out and survive even when being suppressed by antiretroviral therapy. I can imagine a therapy in which the CRISPR-vector is injected into patient lymph nodes and other similar sites with the intent of curing HIV for good. Won't be cheap for another decade, though.