Gene Therapy Shows Promise for Blocking HIV, Controlling AIDS
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Two cutting-edge medical technologies, stem cell transplantation and gene therapy, were combined in an attack on the AIDS virus that may lead to new strategies for treating people infected with HIV.
Researchers at the City of Hope, a nonprofit research institute near Los Angeles, extracted stem cells from the blood of four people with AIDS-related lymphoma, a blood cancer, and modified some of them to carry anti-HIV genes. The altered cells were returned to the patients’ blood without harming them and remained there for two years, a sign that if given in greater number, they might be able to suppress the AIDS virus.