A new study from Tel Aviv University offers a unique treatment for AIDS — a vaccine or a one-time treatment for patients with HIV. The study examined the engineering of type B white blood cells in the patient's body so as to secrete anti-HIV antibodies in response to the virus.
The study was led by Dr. Adi Barzel and his student Alessio Nehmad, both from George S. Wise faculty of life sciences and the Dotan Center for Advanced Therapies in collaboration with the Sourasky Medical Center (Ichilov).
Published in the journal Nature, the study was conducted in collaboration with additional researchers from Israel and the US.Dr Barzel explains: "Until now, only a few scientists, and we among them, had been able to engineer B cells outside of the body, and in this study we were the first to do this in the body and to make these cells generate desired antibodies.
The genetic engineering is done with viral carriers derived from viruses that were engineered so as not to cause damage but only to bring the gene coded for the antibody into the B cells in the body.
“Additionally, in this case we have been able to accurately introduce the antibodies into a desired site in the B cell genome. All model animals who had been administered the treatment responded and had high quantities of the desired antibody in their blood. We produced the antibody from the blood and made sure it was actually effective in neutralizing the HIV virus in the lab dish."
The genetic editing was done with CRISPR, a technology based on a bacterial immune system against viruses. Alessio Nehmad says, "we incorporate the capability of a CRISPR to direct the introduction of genes into desired sites along with the capabilities of viral carriers to bring desired genes to desired cells. Thus, we are able to engineer the B cells inside the patient's body.
We use two viral carriers of the AAV family, one carrier codes for the desired antibody and the second carrier codes the CRISPR system. When the CRISPR cuts in the desired site in the genome of the B cells it directs the introduction of the desired gene: the gene coding for the antibody against the HIV virus, which causes AIDS." Currently, the researchers explain, there is no genetic treatment for AIDS, so the research opportunities are vast. Dr. Barzel concludes: "we developed an innovative treatment that may defeat the virus with a one time injection, with the potential of bringing about tremendous improvement in the patients' condition.
When the engineered B cells encounter the virus, the virus stimulates and encourages them to divide, so we are utilizing the very cause of the disease to combat it.
Furthermore, if the virus changes, the B cells will also change accordingly in order to combat it, so we have created the first medication ever that can evolve in the body and defeat viruses in 'arms race'.”
