15 ms·

CRISPR eliminates HIV-1 infection in live animals

1455 points by shannietron 9y ago

mandude 9y ago
Gene therapy (and CRISPR) is ultimately going to eliminate most if not every ailment/issue/genetic problem that we have, including aging and eye problems. Very thankful we are reaching the point where we can go into our cells and fix ourselves.
- revelation 9y ago
  That was the plan from the start, no? I was pretty disappointed to learn that most drug research is essentially mass testing all kinds of molecular agents that happen to show some beneficial effect for a problem at hand. It seems just too simple a method.
  - iplaw 9y ago
    That is rapidly changing to a more targeted approach. However, don't downplay the importance of the shotgun approach. In the broadest sense, it gave us Viagra for ED (common reported side effect in an unrelated trial), Aleve (intended to be a hangover treatment you'd take the night before), ... With computer and analytical modeling, it's a much easier process to identify a problem and reverse engineer a treatment.
- ythn 9y ago
  Seems too good to be true
  - warent 9y ago
    Fortunately in the late 19th century so did the prospect of Moon exploration and arrogated human knowledge in our pockets. But it's pretty standard now
    - omarchowdhury 9y ago
      Moon exploration isn't standard, but I get your point.
    - warent 9y ago
      Aggregated* not arrogated.
  - pm90 9y ago
    To be fair, they probably said the same about penicillin when it was discovered.
    - quux 9y ago
      And in a way penicillin is too good to be true, now that bacteria are widely resistant to it and many other antibiotics.
      - omarchowdhury 9y ago
        Doesn't erase the benefit it has had up to this point.
      - eliben 9y ago
        Penicillin probably saved at least tens of millions of lives, and other antibiotics even more. Yes, some strains of bacteria are developing resistance, but even today antibiotics are saving many many lives every day.
        a_imho 9y ago
        Can we crispr resistant bacteria to be susceptible to penicillin/antibiotics again?
        ccozan 9y ago
        Interesting idea. So you would first infect voluntarily with a custom virus that targets the bacteria by using CRISPR to remove the DNA strand of the resistance, then simply use the usual antibiotics to kill it.
        mathw 9y ago
        At that point couldn't you just make a custom virus which kills the bacteria, so it happens in one step?
      - erklik 9y ago
- tejtm 9y ago
  I do agree, but that is just the good news. In other news although we can harbor optimistic thoughts for scientists, medical professionals, lawmakers and maybe even politicians all around the globe to do the "right" thing to preserve human life in a currently recognizable form, but there is not a force on heaven or earth that is going to stop parents from trying to give their children every advantage.
  - return0 9y ago
    > to do the "right" thing "right" according to whom? nature itself doesn't believe that
    - mtempm 9y ago
      Despite academic/political/military/banking/corporate alignment against fundamental morals, "right" appears to be in agreement with nature/natural selection. The States had a more "right" society founded om constitutional and civil rights that was a big part of its climb from an English colony to the world power in less than 150 years after the constitution was written. The reason people probably have strong convictions about right or wrong is most likely because of nature, not despite it. Groups that had this genetic trait built tribes, societies that had greater success in the long term. In the short term, individuals, or even groups of individuals, can be successful by acting amorally, but this comes as a cost to their group's long term success--the cancer analogy. Right now there is limited competition between groups in the world. Most of what we should be competing against is the coming extinction event when something else out there gets a whiff of all the artificial elctromagnetic radiation. Probably the reason we hear so little in the cosmos is because it is not a very competitive strategy.
      - deleted 9y ago
        [deleted]
      - golergka 9y ago
        > academic/political/military/banking/corporate alignment against fundamental morals "fundamental morals"? What are those and where the hell do you get them from? > The reason people probably have strong convictions about right or wrong is most likely because of nature, not despite it. Groups that had this genetic trait built tribes, societies that had greater success in the long term. Actually, couldn't agree more. But people do have _different_ convictions about right or wrong.
- dekhn 9y ago
  I dedicated a significant fraction of my life to the idea that gene therapy would become a viable medical treatment. It seems unlikely to really become a high-impact treatment. Being able to change DNA in cells is one thing; actually being able to show your treatment does what it's supposed to and didn't have negative effects is hard. There are a limited number of diseases where gene therapy should work great, but there are a wide range of others where it won't, until solve multiple grand-challenge class problems.
  - tropshop 9y ago
    Would you elaborate on what makes a disease a good fit and these grand-challenge class problems?
    - dekhn 9y ago
      A disease is a good fit if you can just inject the therapy into a localized region (say, the eye, or an organ) and the treatment works for a reasonably long period of time (months+). Typically another requirement is that the target is a defective gene where the phenotype can be repaired through addition of a "corrected" form of the gene, without the defective gene needing to be removed. This is the case in X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, where the genetic cause of the disease has been understood for some time, it's relatively simple underlying mechanism (so we think), and you can deliver the medicine to the retina with periodic injections. Treating a disease where you have to remove an inserted retrovirus from a large number of freely circulating or "hidden" cells (which is the case in HIV) is far more challenging- you need a way to recognize the cells of interest, access all of them, and get 100% transversion. All without causing negative side effects.
      - gmarx 9y ago
        We learned early on that one of the difficulties in eliminating HIV is that it hides in the nervous system and can reemerge at any time. This article show promise in that it can reduce HIV viral load during active shedding. I think it is less likely that it could ever eliminate HIV entirely (i.e. cure)
- maverick_iceman 9y ago
  Evidence?
  - mandude 9y ago
    https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315775073_In_Vivo_Excision_of_HIV-1_Provirus_by_saCas9_and_Multiplex_Single-Guide_RNAs_in_Animal_Models https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315775073_In_Vivo_E...
revelation 9y ago
CRISPR mediated genome editing does, CRISPR itself is not a magic HIV drug. That should probably be in the editorialized title.
- superbatfish 9y ago
  If one is familiar with the term 'CRISPR' in the first place, then the intended meaning is pretty clear.
alistproducer2 9y ago
As exciting as this is, we already know how people have used the decreased danger of HIV infection to become careless about other types of STIs. Given that our antibiotics are losing their ability to treat many common STIs, an HIV cure without some advancement in antibiotics will be swapping one epidemic for a series of others. Edit: I wanted to add a couple sources for my claims above. Once people stopped believing raw sex was an existential threat they started going nuts, falsely believing that everything else can just be cleared up with a pill. Let me also say that my SO worked on the front lines of public health for almost a decade so I might have a unique perspective on this issue because of what she experienced as part of her job. http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/health/syphilis-newborns-partner/ http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/health/syphilis-newborns-partn... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/std-rates-in-the-us-rise_us_5807bcf6e4b0b994d4c36002 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/std-rates-in-the-us-rise... http://www.ocregister.com/2017/01/26/syphilis-up-412-gonorrhea-204-why-are-orange-county-std-rates-through-the-roof/ http://www.ocregister.com/2017/01/26/syphilis-up-412-gonorrh...
- api 9y ago
  Only if we fail to educate people about the dangers of other STIs.
  - lohengramm 9y ago
    Which is happening... I would say the excessive mediatic exposure of HIV have definitely worked to supress awareness and care for other STIs. For instance, I am HPV+ and didn't have a clue about the existance of such a thing before getting it.
    - abalashov 9y ago
      I agree. By the numbers, most STIs aren't dramatic or fatal in the way HIV is, but rather "annoying little infections", though they can still affect the quality of the rest of one's life in a profoundly negative way. But they don't get much press.
    - Beltiras 9y ago
turbohedgehog 9y ago
Last time I read about CRISPR used to remove HIV from infected cells, the virus mutated to defeat the CRISPR attack - could this happen here?
- kbenson 9y ago
  Isn't the only way to mutate to avoid CRISPR to change your genes enough that CRISPR can't identify you? If so, doesn't that mean we just find the new genetic signature and generate a variation that targets it? I see CRISPR as grepping through memory for running instruction code. Sure, the code can change, but if you see the behavior, then it's a matter of finding the new code signature manually and generating a new CRISPR variant target it. If that's accurate, the similarities to anti-malware are pretty cool. Just keep updating your virus DB.
  - jfarlow 9y ago
    Well, as CRISPR was originally found as a kind of immune system, there do exist a number of anti-anti-Cas9 systems against that evolved alongside it. There are a number of small inhibitors of Cas9 [1] (which themselves could be used to tune Cas9 in therapeutics). However up-taking such a defense is admittedly an unlike route for a virus like HIV to take to evolve resistance to a CRISPR-based therapy. More practically, HIV has such a high mutation rate, that it's likely very difficult to target every HIV sequence with a sequence-specific Cas9 therapy. If the Cas9 guide sequence is too generic it'll take out stuff besides HIV (stuff you need). And if the guide sequence is too specific it won't get all the viral inserts because many are degenerate. As with all things though, 95% success with viral excision via CRISPR, in conjunction with 95% success via immunotherapy [2], and 95% from standard anti-retrovirals [3], get's you pretty good 99.9999% coverage. That's the power of convergent technologies. It's an interesting slice through a number of modern therapeutic technologies all applied to one of the most challenging of tailored foes. You see convergence of small molecule biochemistry along with immunotherapy, along gene therapy, along with cutting edge synthetic biology - all approaching the problem from different angles. [1] www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(16)31683-X [2] https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/ecd4ig/ https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/ecd4ig/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Antiretroviral_drugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Antiretroviral_drugs
ChuckMcM 9y ago
Wow, I had not connected the idea of using CRISPR genome editing with targeting virus dna segments. If I understand the technique correctly (and I am not a biologist for sure!) they used an adeno virus modified with a specific Cas9 setup to elide HIV DNA from cells it infected (normally I associate viruses with adding DNA rather than removing it :-) Is that even close to a correct interpretation? It sounds like the technique could be used for pretty much any virus dna you wanted to target.
- hprotagonist 9y ago
  This is, in fact, exactly why CRISPR evolved.
- ithinkinstereo 9y ago
  Correct. You can also use CRISPR to edit a person's own cells in a lab for injection back into the person's body to combat a slew of diseases, including cancer. China is already experimenting on live humans: http://gizmodo.com/china-is-racing-ahead-of-the-us-in-the-quest-to-cure-ca-1794749183 http://gizmodo.com/china-is-racing-ahead-of-the-us-in-the-qu...
  - omarchowdhury 9y ago
    Direct link to study: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02793856?term=crispr&rank=4 https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02793856?term=cri...
  - notyourwork 9y ago
    Question: Do different counties have different governing bodies on qualifications for human experimentation? I assume so but am not well versed in this domain.
    - greeneggs 9y ago
      There's a fair bit of raw data in this pdf: International Compilation of Human Research Standards (2017 edition) - Office for Human Research Protections, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sites/default/files/international-compilation-of-human-research-standards-2017.pdf https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sites/default/files/international-c...
ShannonAlther 9y ago
It's awesome that this is possible. Right now HIV infections are basically a minor nuisance, provided you're taking the appropriate medication, but this bodes well for future treatment of viral infections.
- skj 9y ago
  > Right now HIV infections are basically a minor nuisance, provided you're taking the appropriate medication Even with your caveat, the fact that more than 1 million people died from HIV in 2015 is probably a good signal to not use the term "minor nuisance". https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html
  - StavrosK 9y ago
    * In the developed world. Sucks for the developing world, hopefully we can cure it once and for all.
  - throwaway18917 9y ago
    How many of those people knew they had it? How many of those people were being treated and were following their treatment plan correctly? How many of those people could afford to treat their HIV? HIV is not a death sentence if you treat it. It's not great, but it's not the '80s anymore either...
  - John23832 9y ago
    > Even with your caveat, the fact that more than 1 million people died from HIV in 2015 Idk where you got that number from... From the article you linked, "In the United States, 6,721 people died from HIV and AIDS in 2014". That's out of "An estimated 1.2 million people in the United States were living with HIV at the end of 2013". Since 1/8 people infected with HIV don't know it (and subsequently probably develop full on AIDS and complications), it's fair to say that most of the deaths are due to lack of treatment. Edit: I see you were talking about worldwide, but that's still out of 36 million people living with HIV in the world.
  - ShannonAlther 9y ago
iplaw 9y ago
This, coupled with immunotherapy which boosts efficacy of our own defense mechanisms - for example, NK cell doping via LY49D/DAP12 - is quite exciting. As someone else noted, THIS is what CRISPR was evolved to do. It was a DNA-based immune system used by bacteria to explicitly identify an invading virus via DNA, and to store a record of previously unknown virus for future reference. And, it was intended to function continually, in a living organism.
reasonattlm 9y ago
It is worth noting that the real challenge in gene therapy at this time is not editing the genes, but in getting sufficient coverage of edited cells (and especially progenitors and stem cells) in an adult individual to achieve the therapeutic goal and make it last. (Most studies of genetic alterations in the broader sense have bypassed this challenge by working with animal lineages, or animals in which the editing happens in the earliest stages of development, when there are very few cells needing to be changed. The alteration then propagates during embryonic and later development). There have been a number of very promising studies in the past year or two with regard to gene therapies to apply to adults, such as animal studies that demonstrated a cure for an inherited muscular dystrophy, but in the bigger picture, comprehensive coverage of tissues and cells is still something that the research community is in the midst of getting to grips with.
- tridentjin 9y ago
  This might be the biggest issue with CRISPR right now. The other issue is that we are not close to knowing what effect manipulating a single gene has on other areas. Especially if this gene is a switch for multiple genes.
  - amelius 9y ago
    Scientists are constantly performing RNA-seq analyses to determine where any given gene is active.
- character0 9y ago
  Is the problem you are describing that CRISPR antiviral therapies aren't effective because you don't usually know that you've been infected until, well, after you've been infected? The way I understand the problem is that the lag time can be rather long, and it's always long enough for the virus to get a good running start. Symptoms, after all, don't occur until things are well under way. So in the real world, the two opportunities for antiviral therapies are (1) something that you can take long before you're even exposed, and that lasts for a long time (like a vaccine) or (2) something that you can take after you've already realized that you're sick (like an antiviral drug). It seems like the DRACO proteins fall in between these two unless something has changed since the last time I read about this in, I believe, 2012.
natch 9y ago
"animal models" is obviously a term of art but what does it mean in plain English?
- timdorr 9y ago
  It's any animal (mice, in this case) with a set of characteristics you keep constant between trials. It could be mice of the same age or weight or that have a specific gene or have the same diet.
  - jtmcmc 9y ago
    There are specific 'model animals' that the scientific community uses however https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_model_organisms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_model_organisms
- roywiggins 9y ago
  Broadly, it's using an animal that is sufficiently like a human that it probably behaves similarly in whatever way is important for the study. In practice they also often inbreed them to make them as identical as possible, and sometimes to induce specific changes. Ex: breeding mice that all get lung cancer would be an animal model of (human) lung cancer. There are also transgenic models, where you might insert a human gene into a mouse to create a model of human disease, ex: inserting a huntingtin gene variant to induce Huntington's in mice and create a mouse model of Huntington's.
dgritsko 9y ago
If (like me) you don't have a good working understanding of CRISPR, check out this fantastic episode of Radiolab: http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-part-1-crispr/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-part-1-crispr/
- sluukkonen 9y ago
  There's also an updated version of the episode that they aired this year. http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/
  - DigitalJack 9y ago
    Just to add some info: The update recaps the original, and talks about advances over the year or two since the first one. It's a great podcast episode.
    - mino 9y ago
      And if you like the original episode, I also strongly suggest you listen to this: http://www.radiolab.org/story/shrink/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/shrink/ It is not CRISPR-related, but part of the same interview. It was really inspiring.
- kennydude 9y ago
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY is also a good explanation from Kurzgesagt
rosalinekarr 9y ago
For anyone unfamiliar with CRISPR, I strongly recommend this quick introduction video from Kurzgesagt on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY
- degenerate 9y ago
  This video is how I originally heard of CRISPR, and it's still the best video I have seen on the subject.
- lolive 9y ago
  For french users, this basic video describes the principle of CRISPR/CAS9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYVE05egjPg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYVE05egjPg
- Malic 9y ago
  I'll add a nod to the Kurzgesagt CRISPR video recommendation. It is really nice introduction to the discovery of CAS9, CRISPR as a DNA editing technique, and the fast evolving possibilities of CRISPR.
- DigitalJack 9y ago
  There is a great radiolab podcast on it as well. http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/
  - mino 9y ago
    I wanted to post the same thing. That episode of radiolab was great.
- sago 9y ago
  While we're at the video recommendations, it would be remiss to omit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k99bMtg4zRk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k99bMtg4zRk As fun as it is, Tim Blais works hard to make hardcore science engaging.
- Mrtierne 9y ago
Animats 9y ago
Back in 2011, there was an announcement from MIT about a new approach to a broad-spectrum antiviral that appeared to work.[1] This goes way beyond an AIDS-specific cure. But it was at MIT Lincoln Labs, which doesn't usually do bio. So the researcher moved to Draper Labs, but didn't get much funding. Then that funding ran out. Now the guy behind this is trying to get funding on Indiegogo.[3] The problem seems to be that it's too far along for small-scale YC-sized funding, but not far enough along to sell to Big Pharma. The guy behind it clearly doesn't know how to get funded. He has a web site [4] and keeps trying for crowd funding. Some VC needs to talk to this guy. This might or might not work, but the upside is good and the costs aren't that high. [1] https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html [2] http://www.businessinsider.com/todd-rider-draco-crowdfunding-broad-spectrum-antiviral-2015-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/todd-rider-draco-crowdfunding... [3] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dracos-may-be-effective-against-all-viruses#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dracos-may-be-effective-a... [4] https://riderinstitute.org/ https://riderinstitute.org/
- omarchowdhury 9y ago
  The funding the scientist is seeking is a pittance compared to MIT's endowment, especially considering they own his patents, they should be funding it.
  - throwaway2016a 9y ago
    MIT Lincoln Labs is owned by MIT but operated relatively independently. It is funded, AFAIK from defense spending. Although I'm slightly surprised it wasn't moved to MIT the University.
    - Cyph0n 9y ago
      I believe that Lincoln Labs was intentionally setup separately because MIT pledged not to do any weapons/defense related research. We have something similar with Georgia Tech and GTRI, but probably not for the same reason.
  - apathy 9y ago
carbocation 9y ago
Full article is available here (it will show some loading page but the PDF should download immediately): https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Won_Bin_Young/publication/315775073_In_Vivo_Excision_of_HIV-1_Provirus_by_saCas9_and_Multiplex_Single-Guide_RNAs_in_Animal_Models/links/58e644dfaca2727858cc2d67/In-Vivo-Excision-of-HIV-1-Provirus-by-saCas9-and-Multiplex-Single-Guide-RNAs-in-Animal-Models.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Won_Bin_Young/publicati...
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
- nenreme 9y ago
  Everything is on sci-hub anyway.
brut 9y ago
From the abstract: Intravenously injected quadruplex sgRNAs/saCas9 AAV-DJ/8 excised HIV-1 proviral DNA and significantly reduced viral RNA expression in several organs/tissues of Tg26 mice. In EcoHIV acutely infected mice, intravenously injected quadruplex sgRNAs/saCas9 AAV-DJ/8 reduced systemic EcoHIV infection, as determined by live bioluminescence imaging. Can a mod change the title to reflect the findings? The original title is "In Vivo Excision of HIV-1 Provirus by saCas9 and Multiplex Single-Guide RNAs in Animal Models" and should be kept. That way maybe some people wouldn't just reflex-upvote and actually at least read the abstract...
- JCzynski 9y ago
  That abstract looks completely consistent with the submitted title. I don't see any reason to change it.
  - alevskaya 9y ago
    "Eliminates" is a very loaded term in viral therapy. This paper doesn't show elimination of virus, it shows that the integrated viral genome can be excised in -some- cells by administration of adeno-associated virus harboring the CRISPR system.
BubbasDad 9y ago
In 2013 a very highly-placed Goldman Sachs exec, a friend of a friend, told me his AMFAR contacts predicted a 'genetics-based cure' in a 3-4 years instead of the 10 years they publicly projected. The rationale was donations would stop if people knew how close they were to a cure.
- grawlinson 9y ago
  Even if AIDS is defeated, there's always other medical maladies that affect people. MRSA, for one.
  - iDemonix 9y ago
    That's not really the attitude towards curing disease.
    - curiousgal 9y ago
      It's not towards anything in life.
  - odbol_ 9y ago
    Didn't they already cure it? Magic Johnson had it, but now he doesn't. Or do you mean "cure it for non-basketball-millionaires"?
    - esm 9y ago
      I think by cure they mean eradicate the virus, rather than suppress it. Most people can live relatively normal lives by keeping their viral load low, but this involves taking expensive medications every day for the rest of one's life. The drugs are things like protease inhibitors, modified DNA bases, etc. that muck up the virus' replication machinery so that it cannot make more copies. The goal of a lot of researchers is basically an HIV antimicrobial that kills the virus in the same way you might treat pneumonia, so that maintenance therapy is not needed.
      - 9y ago
rhodrid 9y ago
CRISPR sounds extremely powerful. Like turning all blue eyes brown powerful.
diego_moita 9y ago
Wow! If this could be used to fight bacteria resistant to antibiotics then it is the start of something fantastic. If it can be used to fight also diseases in animals (e.g.: foot & mouth disease in cattle) or plants (e.g.: citrus cancer) then it is even bigger.
mrcactu5 9y ago
how did they refine crispr? Around this time last year we had HIV overcomes CRISPR gene-editing attack https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11453737 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11453737
dbycrash 9y ago
Working in genetics, which was putting aside nanophysics, began as necessity coming in it's most immediate form; given a new name in the form of an acronym and a clock marking the period I would certainly be on the door of, a second value on the clock was a 3 month window represented in how long it would take to reach the other side of the door, that door we all go through at some point. It was 2011, age 30, and would soon be party to several seemingly miraculous acts that would span years in discovering what, as time passed and proof went from speculation to physical, I didn't want to believe. The whole ordeal actually began in 1986, a virus given a name with an assumption relating to origin. A simple mistake that is so common in the early stage of anything new spanning all manner of scientific work that it is most often anticipated. This particular mistake would become evident before 1990, but it still exists in medical text being printed as we speak. One could surmise that possibly my approaching questions as a physicist could explain how, relating to time, I did what no medical practitioner between Miami and Washington D.C. was able to do over the span of 26 months as my situation deteriorated. Not one mention at any hospital, private office, to even attempt to treat the problem except for dialysis in conjunction with interferon. 36 hours after one phone call and one fax to Ireland, of all places, a box was on my front door with 2 bottles inside. Olysio(simeprevir) and Sovaldi(sofosvubir) each with 2 refills that had been pre-authorized. Nearly 2 years after that box came, President Obama first spoke on the medication by stating it would "break healthcare" given the cost stated($97,500 for 3 months where 2 pills are taken each morning) . In doing the math I saw I had swallowed $3000 every morning, and figuring out a way to reproduce the box appearing made for 19 times that amount where I had given the medicine away to people who would have otherwise never known of it's existence. The medication was reverse engineered, and the workers on-site ended up jailed because it happened to be a country that is poor and corrupt. Merck now sells that reverse engineered medication where what was 2 pills is now one. I helped many people, but still can't reconcile the idea that to this day I don't know if I said the right or wrong thing during a phone call that has given me the distinction of being ESRF for the rest of my life, as there is no medical basis, form to fill, etc.. for a condition where being held against my will for a period of more than 12 hours is breaking federal law. If any of you feel that you have something that could help in what was an executive decision where "need to know" was a period where no less than 1.3mil people died of liver failure brought on by this virus, or those who would be interested to know how many other conditions the method used in this incident can be applied, variations that have been made since. Know I only speak on that where I have been present or can say with certainty when and where an event occurred. I have been able to do a few things regarding nano and quantum physics that require I get back some part of the sense in human beings that was lost in this process. Stateside for the time being, but will be back in Seoul early August. - misterselector@live.com
kumarski 9y ago
Genomic responses in animal models do not mimic themselves in humans. Great example is thalidiomide. https://www.quora.com/What-are-examples-of-drugs-that-showed-promising-results-in-clinical-lab-animal-trials-and-failed-miserably-in-human-trials https://www.quora.com/What-are-examples-of-drugs-that-showed... https://walkerma.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/animal-models/ https://walkerma.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/animal-models/ I advise extreme caution and context on hyping this. Derek Lowe wrote a great post on this a few years ago that I still reference whenever I see HIV animal claims. http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/03/a_modest_literature_proposal http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/03/a_m...
- arcticfox 9y ago
  You post the classic cautionary comment but reviewing your sources, none of them at all seem relevant: "Genomic responses in animal models do not mimic themselves in humans" - source? Thalidomide is just a random example of a traditional non-genetic treatment. Specifically the CRISPR mechanism clearly has no precedent of failure, as the Chinese only recently began human trials. There's no precedent of success, but there seems to be no reason to believe it won't work, since it works fine in vivo in other mammals. And the Lowe link you provided is complaining about in vitro testing; this was in vivo. As far as I can tell, it's exactly what he suggests needs to be done before there's any hype. If your point is simply that many things have been tried and failed in the past, sure, that's common knowledge. But CRISPR is not a similar approach, there is very little precedent, so IMO optimism is just as warranted as "extreme caution".
member221 9y ago
I was a hepatitis B carrier, and I found it out 2 years ago when I need some medical test for applying for a job. It scares me a lot, and I have been so hopeless since I heard it, I feel like I'm an outcast and different from others. I cry all night, I can't think properly, I'm so down. Even my doctor advised that I cannot transmit the virus using same utensils, saliva, etc., except if I have sexual intercourse. I'm still sick, no one in my family has this disease. And I don't know where I got it. I have taken blood tests many times and my liver is okay, and I never feel pain in my body, but I can't sleep well every night since I have known my situation.I was desperate for help to help me feel better. i was introduced to Health herbal clinic in Johannesburg who have successful herbal treatment to hepatitis B . I spoke to few people who used the treatment here in USA and they all gave a positive response, so i immediately purchased the hepatitis B herbal formula and commenced usage, i used the herbal supplement for only 7 weeks, all symptoms gradually faded away, herbs are truly gift from God. contact this herbal clinic via their email healthherbalclinic @ gmail. com or visit www. healthherbalclinic. weebly. com
member221 9y ago
I was a hepatitis B carrier, and I found it out 2 years ago when I need some medical test for applying for a job. It scares me a lot, and I have been so hopeless since I heard it, I feel like I'm an outcast and different from others. I cry all night, I can't think properly, I'm so down. Even my doctor advised that I cannot transmit the virus using same utensils, saliva, etc., except if I have sexual intercourse. I'm still sick, no one in my family has this disease. And I don't know where I got it. I have taken blood tests many times and my liver is okay, and I never feel pain in my body, but I can't sleep well every night since I have known my situation.I was desperate for help to help me feel better. i was introduced to Health herbal clinic in Johannesburg who have successful herbal treatment to hepatitis B . I spoke to few people who used the treatment here in USA and they all gave a positive response, so i immediately purchased the hepatitis B herbal formula and commenced usage, i used the herbal supplement for only 7 weeks, all symptoms gradually faded away, herbs are truly gift from God. contact this herbal clinic via their email healthherbalclinic @ gmail. com or visit www. healthherbalclinic. weebly. com
adam_seeliger 9y ago
Who cares? The vast majority of people who are inflicted with HIV participate in high-fish behavior. They don't deserve treatment anyway.
jjtheblunt 9y ago
That title is false : the article states viral load was reduced.
hndamien 9y ago
Maybe Charlie Sheen would fund it?
andrewchambers 9y ago
Is there any aggregated stream of information giving you information of vaccines and cures as they come in?
p_zakharov 9y ago
I am very much in favor of genetic engineering and gene therapy in general, though I actually have mixed feelings about this. The old song "HIV+" by one-man industrial act Suicide Commando described the virus as "God's reprisal". Metaphorically, at least, this appears frequently to be the case; there is a downside to curing HIV. But I expect that success—whether or not this particular finding will carry over into a viable cure—will attract more funding and influence to a field that overall has very beneficial effects. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQGeKIJ1j0A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQGeKIJ1j0A
- Blahah 9y ago
  What is the downside to curing HIV?
  - p_zakharov 9y ago
    Degenerate behavior can't be punished with AIDS anymore.
  - Blahah 9y ago
    replying to myself to say that parent replied: > Degenerate behavior can't be punished with AIDS anymore. I think that's important context for their original post, which is why I'm posting it although it was flagged and downvoted to death.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
- sctb 9y ago
  This kind of ideological flamebait (regardless of its particular ideology) doesn't belong on Hacker News. Please don't post like this here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - p_zakharov 9y ago
    I find it difficult to adhere to the meaning of guidelines like this, because I don't know exactly what they intend. For example, I would say what I did in a face-to-face conversation, and I don't think I'm being gratuitously negative.
Sephr 9y ago
Just a reminder that MPEG LA has a CRISPR patent pool[1] and is willing to enforce it. It almost feels like satire. [1] http://www.mpegla.com/main/pid/CRISPR/default.aspx http://www.mpegla.com/main/pid/CRISPR/default.aspx
ihaveahadron 9y ago
Edit the genes or whatever. I'm not buying the fact that nothing can be ,Cured, since what, penicillin. Asshole doctors.
peter303 9y ago
Craig Venter, the first genome sequenced and first promoter of shotgun sequencing, disses CRISPR. He claims its not reliable enough. Nor can you prevent from altering unexpected parts of the genome. I dont know how much is not-invented-here and how accurate he is.
CristinaPereira 9y ago
I am Cristina Pereira,I contracted HIV in 2009 I was told by my doctor that there's no possible cure for HIV. I started taking my ARV's, My CD4 is 77. I saw a website of Dr Abai also i saw a lot of testimonials about him on how he uses herbal medicine to cure HIV. i contacted him and told him my problems, he sent me the herbal medicine and i took it for 7 days after then i went for a check up and i was Negative. the medicine has no side effect, there's no special diet when taking the medicine visit Dr Abai website: http://drabaiherbalcure.webs.com http://drabaiherbalcure.webs.com and contact him through his WHATS-APP NUMBER +2348156769001, or contact him via email:drabaiherbalcure@yahoo.com
CristinaPereira 9y ago
I am Cristina Pereira,I contracted HIV in 2009 I was told by my doctor that there's no possible cure for HIV. I started taking my ARV's, My CD4 is 77. I saw a website of Dr Abai also i saw a lot of testimonials about him on how he uses herbal medicine to cure HIV. i contacted him and told him my problems, he sent me the herbal medicine and i took it for 7 days after then i went for a check up and i was Negative. the medicine has no side effect, there's no special diet when taking the medicine visit Dr Abai website: http://drabaiherbalcure.webs.com http://drabaiherbalcure.webs.com and contact him through his WHATS-APP NUMBER +2348156769001, or contact him via email:drabaiherbalcure@yahoo.com
CristinaPereira 9y ago
I am Cristina Pereira,I contracted HIV in 2009 I was told by my doctor that there's no possible cure for HIV. I started taking my ARV's, My CD4 is 77. I saw a website of Dr Abai also i saw a lot of testimonials about him on how he uses herbal medicine to cure HIV. i contacted him and told him my problems, he sent me the herbal medicine and i took it for 7 days after then i went for a check up and i was Negative. the medicine has no side effect, there's no special diet when taking the medicine visit Dr Abai website: http://drabaiherbalcure.webs.com http://drabaiherbalcure.webs.com and contact him through his WHATS-APP NUMBER +2348156769001, or contact him via email:drabaiherbalcure@yahoo.com
CristinaPereira 9y ago
I am Cristina Pereira,I contracted HIV in 2009 I was told by my doctor that there's no possible cure for HIV. I started taking my ARV's, My CD4 is 77. I saw a website of Dr Abai also i saw a lot of testimonials about him on how he uses herbal medicine to cure HIV. i contacted him and told him my problems, he sent me the herbal medicine and i took it for 7 days after then i went for a check up and i was Negative. the medicine has no side effect, there's no special diet when taking the medicine visit Dr Abai website: http://drabaiherbalcure.webs.com http://drabaiherbalcure.webs.com

1455 points by shannietron 9y ago

Gene therapy (and CRISPR) is ultimately going to eliminate most if not every ailment/issue/genetic problem that we have, including aging and eye problems. Very thankful we are reaching the point where we can go into our cells and fix ourselves.

revelation 9y ago
That was the plan from the start, no? I was pretty disappointed to learn that most drug research is essentially mass testing all kinds of molecular agents that happen to show some beneficial effect for a problem at hand. It seems just too simple a method.
- iplaw 9y ago
  That is rapidly changing to a more targeted approach. However, don't downplay the importance of the shotgun approach. In the broadest sense, it gave us Viagra for ED (common reported side effect in an unrelated trial), Aleve (intended to be a hangover treatment you'd take the night before), ... With computer and analytical modeling, it's a much easier process to identify a problem and reverse engineer a treatment.
ythn 9y ago
Seems too good to be true
- warent 9y ago
  Fortunately in the late 19th century so did the prospect of Moon exploration and arrogated human knowledge in our pockets. But it's pretty standard now
  - omarchowdhury 9y ago
    Moon exploration isn't standard, but I get your point.
  - warent 9y ago
    Aggregated* not arrogated.
- pm90 9y ago
  To be fair, they probably said the same about penicillin when it was discovered.
  - quux 9y ago
    And in a way penicillin is too good to be true, now that bacteria are widely resistant to it and many other antibiotics.
    - omarchowdhury 9y ago
      Doesn't erase the benefit it has had up to this point.
    - eliben 9y ago
      Penicillin probably saved at least tens of millions of lives, and other antibiotics even more. Yes, some strains of bacteria are developing resistance, but even today antibiotics are saving many many lives every day.
      - a_imho 9y ago
        Can we crispr resistant bacteria to be susceptible to penicillin/antibiotics again?
        ccozan 9y ago
        Interesting idea. So you would first infect voluntarily with a custom virus that targets the bacteria by using CRISPR to remove the DNA strand of the resistance, then simply use the usual antibiotics to kill it.
        mathw 9y ago
        At that point couldn't you just make a custom virus which kills the bacteria, so it happens in one step?
    - erklik 9y ago
tejtm 9y ago
I do agree, but that is just the good news. In other news although we can harbor optimistic thoughts for scientists, medical professionals, lawmakers and maybe even politicians all around the globe to do the "right" thing to preserve human life in a currently recognizable form, but there is not a force on heaven or earth that is going to stop parents from trying to give their children every advantage.
- return0 9y ago
  > to do the "right" thing "right" according to whom? nature itself doesn't believe that
  - mtempm 9y ago
    Despite academic/political/military/banking/corporate alignment against fundamental morals, "right" appears to be in agreement with nature/natural selection. The States had a more "right" society founded om constitutional and civil rights that was a big part of its climb from an English colony to the world power in less than 150 years after the constitution was written. The reason people probably have strong convictions about right or wrong is most likely because of nature, not despite it. Groups that had this genetic trait built tribes, societies that had greater success in the long term. In the short term, individuals, or even groups of individuals, can be successful by acting amorally, but this comes as a cost to their group's long term success--the cancer analogy. Right now there is limited competition between groups in the world. Most of what we should be competing against is the coming extinction event when something else out there gets a whiff of all the artificial elctromagnetic radiation. Probably the reason we hear so little in the cosmos is because it is not a very competitive strategy.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - golergka 9y ago
      > academic/political/military/banking/corporate alignment against fundamental morals "fundamental morals"? What are those and where the hell do you get them from? > The reason people probably have strong convictions about right or wrong is most likely because of nature, not despite it. Groups that had this genetic trait built tribes, societies that had greater success in the long term. Actually, couldn't agree more. But people do have _different_ convictions about right or wrong.
dekhn 9y ago
I dedicated a significant fraction of my life to the idea that gene therapy would become a viable medical treatment. It seems unlikely to really become a high-impact treatment. Being able to change DNA in cells is one thing; actually being able to show your treatment does what it's supposed to and didn't have negative effects is hard. There are a limited number of diseases where gene therapy should work great, but there are a wide range of others where it won't, until solve multiple grand-challenge class problems.
- tropshop 9y ago
  Would you elaborate on what makes a disease a good fit and these grand-challenge class problems?
  - dekhn 9y ago
    A disease is a good fit if you can just inject the therapy into a localized region (say, the eye, or an organ) and the treatment works for a reasonably long period of time (months+). Typically another requirement is that the target is a defective gene where the phenotype can be repaired through addition of a "corrected" form of the gene, without the defective gene needing to be removed. This is the case in X-linked retinitis pigmentosa, where the genetic cause of the disease has been understood for some time, it's relatively simple underlying mechanism (so we think), and you can deliver the medicine to the retina with periodic injections. Treating a disease where you have to remove an inserted retrovirus from a large number of freely circulating or "hidden" cells (which is the case in HIV) is far more challenging- you need a way to recognize the cells of interest, access all of them, and get 100% transversion. All without causing negative side effects.
    - gmarx 9y ago
      We learned early on that one of the difficulties in eliminating HIV is that it hides in the nervous system and can reemerge at any time. This article show promise in that it can reduce HIV viral load during active shedding. I think it is less likely that it could ever eliminate HIV entirely (i.e. cure)
maverick_iceman 9y ago
Evidence?
- mandude 9y ago
  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315775073_In_Vivo_Excision_of_HIV-1_Provirus_by_saCas9_and_Multiplex_Single-Guide_RNAs_in_Animal_Models https://www.researchgate.net/publication/315775073_In_Vivo_E...

revelation 9y ago

CRISPR mediated genome editing does, CRISPR itself is not a magic HIV drug. That should probably be in the editorialized title.

superbatfish 9y ago
If one is familiar with the term 'CRISPR' in the first place, then the intended meaning is pretty clear.

alistproducer2 9y ago

As exciting as this is, we already know how people have used the decreased danger of HIV infection to become careless about other types of STIs. Given that our antibiotics are losing their ability to treat many common STIs, an HIV cure without some advancement in antibiotics will be swapping one epidemic for a series of others. Edit: I wanted to add a couple sources for my claims above. Once people stopped believing raw sex was an existential threat they started going nuts, falsely believing that everything else can just be cleared up with a pill. Let me also say that my SO worked on the front lines of public health for almost a decade so I might have a unique perspective on this issue because of what she experienced as part of her job. http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/health/syphilis-newborns-partner/ http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/01/health/syphilis-newborns-partn... http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/std-rates-in-the-us-rise_us_5807bcf6e4b0b994d4c36002 http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/std-rates-in-the-us-rise... http://www.ocregister.com/2017/01/26/syphilis-up-412-gonorrhea-204-why-are-orange-county-std-rates-through-the-roof/ http://www.ocregister.com/2017/01/26/syphilis-up-412-gonorrh...

api 9y ago
Only if we fail to educate people about the dangers of other STIs.
- lohengramm 9y ago
  Which is happening... I would say the excessive mediatic exposure of HIV have definitely worked to supress awareness and care for other STIs. For instance, I am HPV+ and didn't have a clue about the existance of such a thing before getting it.
  - abalashov 9y ago
    I agree. By the numbers, most STIs aren't dramatic or fatal in the way HIV is, but rather "annoying little infections", though they can still affect the quality of the rest of one's life in a profoundly negative way. But they don't get much press.
  - Beltiras 9y ago

turbohedgehog 9y ago

Last time I read about CRISPR used to remove HIV from infected cells, the virus mutated to defeat the CRISPR attack - could this happen here?

kbenson 9y ago
Isn't the only way to mutate to avoid CRISPR to change your genes enough that CRISPR can't identify you? If so, doesn't that mean we just find the new genetic signature and generate a variation that targets it? I see CRISPR as grepping through memory for running instruction code. Sure, the code can change, but if you see the behavior, then it's a matter of finding the new code signature manually and generating a new CRISPR variant target it. If that's accurate, the similarities to anti-malware are pretty cool. Just keep updating your virus DB.
- jfarlow 9y ago
  Well, as CRISPR was originally found as a kind of immune system, there do exist a number of anti-anti-Cas9 systems against that evolved alongside it. There are a number of small inhibitors of Cas9 [1] (which themselves could be used to tune Cas9 in therapeutics). However up-taking such a defense is admittedly an unlike route for a virus like HIV to take to evolve resistance to a CRISPR-based therapy. More practically, HIV has such a high mutation rate, that it's likely very difficult to target every HIV sequence with a sequence-specific Cas9 therapy. If the Cas9 guide sequence is too generic it'll take out stuff besides HIV (stuff you need). And if the guide sequence is too specific it won't get all the viral inserts because many are degenerate. As with all things though, 95% success with viral excision via CRISPR, in conjunction with 95% success via immunotherapy [2], and 95% from standard anti-retrovirals [3], get's you pretty good 99.9999% coverage. That's the power of convergent technologies. It's an interesting slice through a number of modern therapeutic technologies all applied to one of the most challenging of tailored foes. You see convergence of small molecule biochemistry along with immunotherapy, along gene therapy, along with cutting edge synthetic biology - all approaching the problem from different angles. [1] www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(16)31683-X [2] https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/ecd4ig/ https://serotiny.bio/notes/proteins/ecd4ig/ [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Antiretroviral_drugs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Antiretroviral_drugs

ChuckMcM 9y ago

Wow, I had not connected the idea of using CRISPR genome editing with targeting virus dna segments. If I understand the technique correctly (and I am not a biologist for sure!) they used an adeno virus modified with a specific Cas9 setup to elide HIV DNA from cells it infected (normally I associate viruses with adding DNA rather than removing it :-) Is that even close to a correct interpretation? It sounds like the technique could be used for pretty much any virus dna you wanted to target.

hprotagonist 9y ago
This is, in fact, exactly why CRISPR evolved.
ithinkinstereo 9y ago
Correct. You can also use CRISPR to edit a person's own cells in a lab for injection back into the person's body to combat a slew of diseases, including cancer. China is already experimenting on live humans: http://gizmodo.com/china-is-racing-ahead-of-the-us-in-the-quest-to-cure-ca-1794749183 http://gizmodo.com/china-is-racing-ahead-of-the-us-in-the-qu...
- omarchowdhury 9y ago
  Direct link to study: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02793856?term=crispr&rank=4 https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02793856?term=cri...
- notyourwork 9y ago
  Question: Do different counties have different governing bodies on qualifications for human experimentation? I assume so but am not well versed in this domain.
  - greeneggs 9y ago
    There's a fair bit of raw data in this pdf: International Compilation of Human Research Standards (2017 edition) - Office for Human Research Protections, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sites/default/files/international-compilation-of-human-research-standards-2017.pdf https://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/sites/default/files/international-c...

ShannonAlther 9y ago

It's awesome that this is possible. Right now HIV infections are basically a minor nuisance, provided you're taking the appropriate medication, but this bodes well for future treatment of viral infections.

skj 9y ago
> Right now HIV infections are basically a minor nuisance, provided you're taking the appropriate medication Even with your caveat, the fact that more than 1 million people died from HIV in 2015 is probably a good signal to not use the term "minor nuisance". https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html
- StavrosK 9y ago
  * In the developed world. Sucks for the developing world, hopefully we can cure it once and for all.
- throwaway18917 9y ago
  How many of those people knew they had it? How many of those people were being treated and were following their treatment plan correctly? How many of those people could afford to treat their HIV? HIV is not a death sentence if you treat it. It's not great, but it's not the '80s anymore either...
- John23832 9y ago
  > Even with your caveat, the fact that more than 1 million people died from HIV in 2015 Idk where you got that number from... From the article you linked, "In the United States, 6,721 people died from HIV and AIDS in 2014". That's out of "An estimated 1.2 million people in the United States were living with HIV at the end of 2013". Since 1/8 people infected with HIV don't know it (and subsequently probably develop full on AIDS and complications), it's fair to say that most of the deaths are due to lack of treatment. Edit: I see you were talking about worldwide, but that's still out of 36 million people living with HIV in the world.
- ShannonAlther 9y ago

iplaw 9y ago

This, coupled with immunotherapy which boosts efficacy of our own defense mechanisms - for example, NK cell doping via LY49D/DAP12 - is quite exciting. As someone else noted, THIS is what CRISPR was evolved to do. It was a DNA-based immune system used by bacteria to explicitly identify an invading virus via DNA, and to store a record of previously unknown virus for future reference. And, it was intended to function continually, in a living organism.

reasonattlm 9y ago

It is worth noting that the real challenge in gene therapy at this time is not editing the genes, but in getting sufficient coverage of edited cells (and especially progenitors and stem cells) in an adult individual to achieve the therapeutic goal and make it last. (Most studies of genetic alterations in the broader sense have bypassed this challenge by working with animal lineages, or animals in which the editing happens in the earliest stages of development, when there are very few cells needing to be changed. The alteration then propagates during embryonic and later development). There have been a number of very promising studies in the past year or two with regard to gene therapies to apply to adults, such as animal studies that demonstrated a cure for an inherited muscular dystrophy, but in the bigger picture, comprehensive coverage of tissues and cells is still something that the research community is in the midst of getting to grips with.

tridentjin 9y ago
This might be the biggest issue with CRISPR right now. The other issue is that we are not close to knowing what effect manipulating a single gene has on other areas. Especially if this gene is a switch for multiple genes.
- amelius 9y ago
  Scientists are constantly performing RNA-seq analyses to determine where any given gene is active.
character0 9y ago
Is the problem you are describing that CRISPR antiviral therapies aren't effective because you don't usually know that you've been infected until, well, after you've been infected? The way I understand the problem is that the lag time can be rather long, and it's always long enough for the virus to get a good running start. Symptoms, after all, don't occur until things are well under way. So in the real world, the two opportunities for antiviral therapies are (1) something that you can take long before you're even exposed, and that lasts for a long time (like a vaccine) or (2) something that you can take after you've already realized that you're sick (like an antiviral drug). It seems like the DRACO proteins fall in between these two unless something has changed since the last time I read about this in, I believe, 2012.

natch 9y ago

"animal models" is obviously a term of art but what does it mean in plain English?

timdorr 9y ago
It's any animal (mice, in this case) with a set of characteristics you keep constant between trials. It could be mice of the same age or weight or that have a specific gene or have the same diet.
- jtmcmc 9y ago
  There are specific 'model animals' that the scientific community uses however https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_model_organisms https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_model_organisms
roywiggins 9y ago
Broadly, it's using an animal that is sufficiently like a human that it probably behaves similarly in whatever way is important for the study. In practice they also often inbreed them to make them as identical as possible, and sometimes to induce specific changes. Ex: breeding mice that all get lung cancer would be an animal model of (human) lung cancer. There are also transgenic models, where you might insert a human gene into a mouse to create a model of human disease, ex: inserting a huntingtin gene variant to induce Huntington's in mice and create a mouse model of Huntington's.

dgritsko 9y ago

If (like me) you don't have a good working understanding of CRISPR, check out this fantastic episode of Radiolab: http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-part-1-crispr/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/antibodies-part-1-crispr/

sluukkonen 9y ago
There's also an updated version of the episode that they aired this year. http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/
- DigitalJack 9y ago
  Just to add some info: The update recaps the original, and talks about advances over the year or two since the first one. It's a great podcast episode.
  - mino 9y ago
    And if you like the original episode, I also strongly suggest you listen to this: http://www.radiolab.org/story/shrink/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/shrink/ It is not CRISPR-related, but part of the same interview. It was really inspiring.
kennydude 9y ago
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY is also a good explanation from Kurzgesagt

rosalinekarr 9y ago

For anyone unfamiliar with CRISPR, I strongly recommend this quick introduction video from Kurzgesagt on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAhjPd4uNFY

degenerate 9y ago
This video is how I originally heard of CRISPR, and it's still the best video I have seen on the subject.
lolive 9y ago
For french users, this basic video describes the principle of CRISPR/CAS9: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYVE05egjPg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYVE05egjPg
Malic 9y ago
I'll add a nod to the Kurzgesagt CRISPR video recommendation. It is really nice introduction to the discovery of CAS9, CRISPR as a DNA editing technique, and the fast evolving possibilities of CRISPR.
DigitalJack 9y ago
There is a great radiolab podcast on it as well. http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/ http://www.radiolab.org/story/update-crispr/
- mino 9y ago
  I wanted to post the same thing. That episode of radiolab was great.
sago 9y ago
While we're at the video recommendations, it would be remiss to omit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k99bMtg4zRk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k99bMtg4zRk As fun as it is, Tim Blais works hard to make hardcore science engaging.
Mrtierne 9y ago

Animats 9y ago

Back in 2011, there was an announcement from MIT about a new approach to a broad-spectrum antiviral that appeared to work.[1] This goes way beyond an AIDS-specific cure. But it was at MIT Lincoln Labs, which doesn't usually do bio. So the researcher moved to Draper Labs, but didn't get much funding. Then that funding ran out. Now the guy behind this is trying to get funding on Indiegogo.[3] The problem seems to be that it's too far along for small-scale YC-sized funding, but not far enough along to sell to Big Pharma. The guy behind it clearly doesn't know how to get funded. He has a web site [4] and keeps trying for crowd funding. Some VC needs to talk to this guy. This might or might not work, but the upside is good and the costs aren't that high. [1] https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html https://www.ll.mit.edu/news/DRACO.html [2] http://www.businessinsider.com/todd-rider-draco-crowdfunding-broad-spectrum-antiviral-2015-12 http://www.businessinsider.com/todd-rider-draco-crowdfunding... [3] https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dracos-may-be-effective-against-all-viruses#/ https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/dracos-may-be-effective-a... [4] https://riderinstitute.org/ https://riderinstitute.org/

omarchowdhury 9y ago
The funding the scientist is seeking is a pittance compared to MIT's endowment, especially considering they own his patents, they should be funding it.
- throwaway2016a 9y ago
  MIT Lincoln Labs is owned by MIT but operated relatively independently. It is funded, AFAIK from defense spending. Although I'm slightly surprised it wasn't moved to MIT the University.
  - Cyph0n 9y ago
    I believe that Lincoln Labs was intentionally setup separately because MIT pledged not to do any weapons/defense related research. We have something similar with Georgia Tech and GTRI, but probably not for the same reason.
- apathy 9y ago

carbocation 9y ago

Full article is available here (it will show some loading page but the PDF should download immediately): https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Won_Bin_Young/publication/315775073_In_Vivo_Excision_of_HIV-1_Provirus_by_saCas9_and_Multiplex_Single-Guide_RNAs_in_Animal_Models/links/58e644dfaca2727858cc2d67/In-Vivo-Excision-of-HIV-1-Provirus-by-saCas9-and-Multiplex-Single-Guide-RNAs-in-Animal-Models.pdf https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Won_Bin_Young/publicati...

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
nenreme 9y ago
Everything is on sci-hub anyway.

brut 9y ago

From the abstract: Intravenously injected quadruplex sgRNAs/saCas9 AAV-DJ/8 excised HIV-1 proviral DNA and significantly reduced viral RNA expression in several organs/tissues of Tg26 mice. In EcoHIV acutely infected mice, intravenously injected quadruplex sgRNAs/saCas9 AAV-DJ/8 reduced systemic EcoHIV infection, as determined by live bioluminescence imaging. Can a mod change the title to reflect the findings? The original title is "In Vivo Excision of HIV-1 Provirus by saCas9 and Multiplex Single-Guide RNAs in Animal Models" and should be kept. That way maybe some people wouldn't just reflex-upvote and actually at least read the abstract...

JCzynski 9y ago
That abstract looks completely consistent with the submitted title. I don't see any reason to change it.
- alevskaya 9y ago
  "Eliminates" is a very loaded term in viral therapy. This paper doesn't show elimination of virus, it shows that the integrated viral genome can be excised in -some- cells by administration of adeno-associated virus harboring the CRISPR system.

BubbasDad 9y ago

In 2013 a very highly-placed Goldman Sachs exec, a friend of a friend, told me his AMFAR contacts predicted a 'genetics-based cure' in a 3-4 years instead of the 10 years they publicly projected. The rationale was donations would stop if people knew how close they were to a cure.

grawlinson 9y ago
Even if AIDS is defeated, there's always other medical maladies that affect people. MRSA, for one.
- iDemonix 9y ago
  That's not really the attitude towards curing disease.
  - curiousgal 9y ago
    It's not towards anything in life.
- odbol_ 9y ago
  Didn't they already cure it? Magic Johnson had it, but now he doesn't. Or do you mean "cure it for non-basketball-millionaires"?
  - esm 9y ago
    I think by cure they mean eradicate the virus, rather than suppress it. Most people can live relatively normal lives by keeping their viral load low, but this involves taking expensive medications every day for the rest of one's life. The drugs are things like protease inhibitors, modified DNA bases, etc. that muck up the virus' replication machinery so that it cannot make more copies. The goal of a lot of researchers is basically an HIV antimicrobial that kills the virus in the same way you might treat pneumonia, so that maintenance therapy is not needed.
    - 9y ago

rhodrid 9y ago

CRISPR sounds extremely powerful. Like turning all blue eyes brown powerful.

diego_moita 9y ago

Wow! If this could be used to fight bacteria resistant to antibiotics then it is the start of something fantastic. If it can be used to fight also diseases in animals (e.g.: foot & mouth disease in cattle) or plants (e.g.: citrus cancer) then it is even bigger.

mrcactu5 9y ago

how did they refine crispr? Around this time last year we had HIV overcomes CRISPR gene-editing attack https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11453737 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11453737

dbycrash 9y ago

Working in genetics, which was putting aside nanophysics, began as necessity coming in it's most immediate form; given a new name in the form of an acronym and a clock marking the period I would certainly be on the door of, a second value on the clock was a 3 month window represented in how long it would take to reach the other side of the door, that door we all go through at some point. It was 2011, age 30, and would soon be party to several seemingly miraculous acts that would span years in discovering what, as time passed and proof went from speculation to physical, I didn't want to believe. The whole ordeal actually began in 1986, a virus given a name with an assumption relating to origin. A simple mistake that is so common in the early stage of anything new spanning all manner of scientific work that it is most often anticipated. This particular mistake would become evident before 1990, but it still exists in medical text being printed as we speak. One could surmise that possibly my approaching questions as a physicist could explain how, relating to time, I did what no medical practitioner between Miami and Washington D.C. was able to do over the span of 26 months as my situation deteriorated. Not one mention at any hospital, private office, to even attempt to treat the problem except for dialysis in conjunction with interferon. 36 hours after one phone call and one fax to Ireland, of all places, a box was on my front door with 2 bottles inside. Olysio(simeprevir) and Sovaldi(sofosvubir) each with 2 refills that had been pre-authorized. Nearly 2 years after that box came, President Obama first spoke on the medication by stating it would "break healthcare" given the cost stated($97,500 for 3 months where 2 pills are taken each morning) . In doing the math I saw I had swallowed $3000 every morning, and figuring out a way to reproduce the box appearing made for 19 times that amount where I had given the medicine away to people who would have otherwise never known of it's existence. The medication was reverse engineered, and the workers on-site ended up jailed because it happened to be a country that is poor and corrupt. Merck now sells that reverse engineered medication where what was 2 pills is now one. I helped many people, but still can't reconcile the idea that to this day I don't know if I said the right or wrong thing during a phone call that has given me the distinction of being ESRF for the rest of my life, as there is no medical basis, form to fill, etc.. for a condition where being held against my will for a period of more than 12 hours is breaking federal law. If any of you feel that you have something that could help in what was an executive decision where "need to know" was a period where no less than 1.3mil people died of liver failure brought on by this virus, or those who would be interested to know how many other conditions the method used in this incident can be applied, variations that have been made since. Know I only speak on that where I have been present or can say with certainty when and where an event occurred. I have been able to do a few things regarding nano and quantum physics that require I get back some part of the sense in human beings that was lost in this process. Stateside for the time being, but will be back in Seoul early August. - misterselector@live.com

kumarski 9y ago

Genomic responses in animal models do not mimic themselves in humans. Great example is thalidiomide. https://www.quora.com/What-are-examples-of-drugs-that-showed-promising-results-in-clinical-lab-animal-trials-and-failed-miserably-in-human-trials https://www.quora.com/What-are-examples-of-drugs-that-showed... https://walkerma.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/animal-models/ https://walkerma.wordpress.com/2007/04/27/animal-models/ I advise extreme caution and context on hyping this. Derek Lowe wrote a great post on this a few years ago that I still reference whenever I see HIV animal claims. http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/03/a_modest_literature_proposal http://blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline/archives/2010/02/03/a_m...

arcticfox 9y ago
You post the classic cautionary comment but reviewing your sources, none of them at all seem relevant: "Genomic responses in animal models do not mimic themselves in humans" - source? Thalidomide is just a random example of a traditional non-genetic treatment. Specifically the CRISPR mechanism clearly has no precedent of failure, as the Chinese only recently began human trials. There's no precedent of success, but there seems to be no reason to believe it won't work, since it works fine in vivo in other mammals. And the Lowe link you provided is complaining about in vitro testing; this was in vivo. As far as I can tell, it's exactly what he suggests needs to be done before there's any hype. If your point is simply that many things have been tried and failed in the past, sure, that's common knowledge. But CRISPR is not a similar approach, there is very little precedent, so IMO optimism is just as warranted as "extreme caution".

member221 9y ago

I was a hepatitis B carrier, and I found it out 2 years ago when I need some medical test for applying for a job. It scares me a lot, and I have been so hopeless since I heard it, I feel like I'm an outcast and different from others. I cry all night, I can't think properly, I'm so down. Even my doctor advised that I cannot transmit the virus using same utensils, saliva, etc., except if I have sexual intercourse. I'm still sick, no one in my family has this disease. And I don't know where I got it. I have taken blood tests many times and my liver is okay, and I never feel pain in my body, but I can't sleep well every night since I have known my situation.I was desperate for help to help me feel better. i was introduced to Health herbal clinic in Johannesburg who have successful herbal treatment to hepatitis B . I spoke to few people who used the treatment here in USA and they all gave a positive response, so i immediately purchased the hepatitis B herbal formula and commenced usage, i used the herbal supplement for only 7 weeks, all symptoms gradually faded away, herbs are truly gift from God. contact this herbal clinic via their email healthherbalclinic @ gmail. com or visit www. healthherbalclinic. weebly. com

member221 9y ago

adam_seeliger 9y ago

Who cares? The vast majority of people who are inflicted with HIV participate in high-fish behavior. They don't deserve treatment anyway.

jjtheblunt 9y ago

That title is false : the article states viral load was reduced.

hndamien 9y ago

Maybe Charlie Sheen would fund it?

andrewchambers 9y ago

Is there any aggregated stream of information giving you information of vaccines and cures as they come in?

p_zakharov 9y ago

I am very much in favor of genetic engineering and gene therapy in general, though I actually have mixed feelings about this. The old song "HIV+" by one-man industrial act Suicide Commando described the virus as "God's reprisal". Metaphorically, at least, this appears frequently to be the case; there is a downside to curing HIV. But I expect that success—whether or not this particular finding will carry over into a viable cure—will attract more funding and influence to a field that overall has very beneficial effects. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQGeKIJ1j0A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQGeKIJ1j0A

Blahah 9y ago
What is the downside to curing HIV?
- p_zakharov 9y ago
  Degenerate behavior can't be punished with AIDS anymore.
- Blahah 9y ago
  replying to myself to say that parent replied: > Degenerate behavior can't be punished with AIDS anymore. I think that's important context for their original post, which is why I'm posting it although it was flagged and downvoted to death.
- deleted 9y ago
  [deleted]
sctb 9y ago
This kind of ideological flamebait (regardless of its particular ideology) doesn't belong on Hacker News. Please don't post like this here. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- p_zakharov 9y ago
  I find it difficult to adhere to the meaning of guidelines like this, because I don't know exactly what they intend. For example, I would say what I did in a face-to-face conversation, and I don't think I'm being gratuitously negative.

Sephr 9y ago

Just a reminder that MPEG LA has a CRISPR patent pool[1] and is willing to enforce it. It almost feels like satire. [1] http://www.mpegla.com/main/pid/CRISPR/default.aspx http://www.mpegla.com/main/pid/CRISPR/default.aspx

ihaveahadron 9y ago

Edit the genes or whatever. I'm not buying the fact that nothing can be ,Cured, since what, penicillin. Asshole doctors.

peter303 9y ago

Craig Venter, the first genome sequenced and first promoter of shotgun sequencing, disses CRISPR. He claims its not reliable enough. Nor can you prevent from altering unexpected parts of the genome. I dont know how much is not-invented-here and how accurate he is.

CristinaPereira 9y ago

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CristinaPereira 9y ago