Researchers have discovered a "promising cure" for HIV and AIDS, according to The Independent.

Using a gene-editing technique called CRISPR to remove the HIV-1 provirus, scientists have managed to almost completely eliminate the fatal immune disease from a group of infected mice. They claimed that this demonstrates the "feasibility and efficiency" of the method.

Researchers were pleased to state that this work functioned as a "significant step" in the mission to begin clinical trials of this technique in humans, however they admitted that there were still various practical issues that need to be overcome.

In the journal Molecular Therapy, the scientists explained how some of the mice had been "humanised" by providing them with some of our immune cells.

Researchers were pleased to state that this work functioned as a "significant step" in the mission to begin clinical trials of this technique in humans.

In the mice, “successful proviral excision was detected … in the spleen, lungs, heart, colon, and brain after a single intravenous injection” of the gene-editing protein.

Despite researchers being aware that many apparent breakthroughs in animal models often encounter problems in process of developing treatment for humans, they are still hopeful that this technique offers a viable cure.

The researchers, from Temple University and Pittsburgh University in the US, wrote in the journal: “Excision of HIV-1 proviral DNA by [this method in a living animal] in solid tissues/organs can be achieved … [in] a significant step toward human clinical trials.”

They added that “gene delivery efficiency … remains an obstacle to overcome” in a living animal.

The scientists told The Daily Mail that repeating the study in primates seems to be the next step, a “more suitable animal model where HIV infection induces disease” before the “eventual goal” of human clinical trials.

Temple University's Dr Wenhui Hu told The Daily Mail that the recent study was built upon earlier research, however was much “more comprehensive”.

Hu said: “We confirmed the data from our previous work and have improved the efficiency of our gene editing strategy.

“We also show that the strategy is effective in two additional mouse models, one representing acute infection in mouse cells and the other representing chronic, or latent, infection in human cells.”

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