myrhymeandreason Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 (edited) Dr Indrani Sarkar has has every reason to be excited. Her PhD thesis, which started in 2002 at the Max Planck Institute in Dresden, Germany, has thrown open the doors for developing enzymes that can destroy the dreaded Human Immuno-deficiency Virus or HIV within infected cells permanently.Indrani and a team of scientists have developed an enzyme called Tre. Tre is a custom enzyme capable of detecting, recognising and destroying HIV, much like a pair of molecular scissors. "In laymans terms, it's an engineered enzyme which recognises sequences in the HIV genome that is duplicated, integrated virus and by the process of recombination, it cuts out the virus from the genome," says she. [source] -------------------- An HIV infection cannot be healed so far. The present therapies, which must take from HIV positives lifelong, retard only the outbreak of AIDS. Max Planck Institute (German) Max Planck Institute (Google Translated to English) Planck Institute (Better Translation to English thanks Maddox!) Edited September 18, 2007 by myrhymeandreason Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daninku Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 I can't tell for sure, but I just hope it's true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shockz Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 I hope its true also... but I've heard claims of cures before and then never heard anything again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gadean Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 let's hope it's true. I'd love see see us rid the world of this nasty virus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RudyJ Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 That is indeed exciting news, as for the source, I don't know that site. What I do know is that the Max Planck Institute is a highly respected and famous institute, Nobel Prize winners and all that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrhymeandreason Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 Well, I hope it is true as well! This would be amazing! :woot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddox Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 It's true. Max Planck Institute in Dresden: http://www.mpg.de/bilderBerichteDokumente/...6251/index.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
null_ Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 This should be very interesting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
and1direct Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 I think more bigger sources are needed; CNN, Fox, etc... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrhymeandreason Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 It's true. Max Planck Institute in Dresden:http://www.mpg.de/bilderBerichteDokumente/...6251/index.html WOW! :woot: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ntbnnt Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Wow. I hope this is for real. But then again, this is only one of many problems that will have to be solved to cure HIV, so a for-sure cure in the near future seems unlikely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JorgeIvan Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 I hope this is the end of that virus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrhymeandreason Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 I think more bigger sources are needed; CNN, Fox, etc... I updated the first post with links to the official (according to who.is) website for the Max Planck Institute website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrawn Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 As far as I can tell, this works by cutting out HIV sequences from your genome. That done, the HIV won't be replicated by your cells. But needless to say, treatments which modify the DNA of living humans can be quite risky (they kill/maim test subjects every few years) and that's why they'll need to trial this for 5-20 years (if it works at all). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
perochan Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 cool. hope this comes true. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrhymeandreason Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 As far as I can tell, this works by cutting out HIV sequences from your genome. That done, the HIV won't be replicated by your cells.But needless to say, treatments which modify the DNA of living humans can be quite risky (they kill/maim test subjects every few years) and that's why they'll need to trial this for 5-20 years (if it works at all). I was just about to say that. But if they were able to do that, they can stop the spread through giving birth. Also, your cells would no longer replicate HIV in yourself, making you cured. If everyone in the world took this treatment (assuming it was tested safe), the world could be virtually completely free of HIV/AIDS. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddox Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 English Doc File from Max Planck Institute in Dresden: http://www.mpi-cbg.de/downloads/Tre-Englisch.doc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrhymeandreason Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 English Doc File from Max Planck Institute in Dresden: http://www.mpi-cbg.de/downloads/Tre-Englisch.doc I already posted the link in the original post. Thanks! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddox Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 I already posted the link in the original post. Thanks! :) Yeah, but it's translated via Google :wacko: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrhymeandreason Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 Yeah, but it's translated via Google :wacko: . Good point! :laugh: :rofl: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x-scratch Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 now they just need to find a cure for aids & then but this is def a start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gomisweird Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Can this be it? Even if it's not, why haven't I heard this on CNN, BBC, FOX? It's like these networks ignore this big breaking news in favor of OJ Simpson Saga #2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddox Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 Can this be it? Even if it's not, why haven't I heard this on CNN, BBC, FOX? It's like these networks ignore this big breaking news in favor of OJ Simpson Saga #2 OJ Simpson or Paris Hilton are more interesting :devil: . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myrhymeandreason Posted September 18, 2007 Author Share Posted September 18, 2007 Can this be it? Even if it's not, why haven't I heard this on CNN, BBC, FOX? It's like these networks ignore this big breaking news in favor of OJ Simpson Saga #2 I am sure that it will be all over the news later today. No news stations are airing right now, and here no newspapers are out (I can see out my window. I'm probably going to see it the second a paper comes because I don't see myself sleeping tonight.. too much homework.) :sleep: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
npe Posted September 18, 2007 Share Posted September 18, 2007 That's a really cool thesis to work on! If this study makes it to Nature or Science I think it has some future. Also, isn't the biggest problem with HIV is that it tend to make errornous copies of its genome, thus making whatever drugs that can stop one particular subtype ineffective against the copies that have some errors but still functional? Another major problem will be how to get this enzyme into the nucleas where the DNA are located. Currently, there are many drugs that can kill cancer (off topic) but most of them never make it to the market because there is no effective way of delivering the drug to the target site. Likewise, this enzyme has to somehow be delivered to the site of the DNA. While virus has a neat way of delivering its own RNA/DNA into the cell and intergrates it to the genome, we don't really have any effective ways of delivering drugs that we make into those same sites. And as someone already brought up: drugs that cut genome is quite dangerous because it might cut at the wrong place and give you more problems. A very good start. I think it's still a long way until we can cure HIV though...if at all. Prevention is still the best and most effective method. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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