Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date. I was wondering how trials are currently going in terms of gene therapy for HIV/AIDS? I have tried to research, but I mostly get confused by the number of different experiments going on at once (for example, experiments using virus's as vectors, experiments implanting T-Cells, experiments taking out certain genes, changing them to make them stop the virus mutliplying, and putting them back into the patient etc).
What are the main, most important pathways scientists and doctors are currently traversing in terms of this gene therapy, and how is it all going? When can we expect to see results?
Marty Markowitz, M. D.
Clinical Director
Staff Investigator, Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center
Associate Professor, Rockefeller University
To date gene therapy as a "therapeutic modality" has been disappointingly slow. Much of the problem has been delivering the gene SPECIFICALLY to the place that it is needed.
Specifically in HIV, gene therapy is likely to take the form of using RNAi or "inhibiting" RNA to try to silence RNA replication in cells. As of now RNAi is of great interest and a powerful laboratory tool to probe...but, the main problem will be delivery to the right place (as is the case with most gene therapy).
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