Gene Therapy Safe in Decade-Long HIV Study That May Widen Use

HIV patients given gene therapy more than a decade ago are healthy and the altered DNA they received remains stable in their bodies, according to a study that scientists say proves the treatment may safely be tested as a way to attack other illnesses.

All except two of 43 people treated with genetically-altered versions of their own infection-fighting T cells were healthy as many as 11 years later, according to the research reported today in the journal Science Translational Medicine.