Researchers genetically engineer immune cells into potent weapons for battling HIV
March 7, 2008 | Source: KurzweilAI
Yeshiva University scientists genetically engineered immune-system killer cells with two new genes to kill HIV-infected cells.
They examined the immune cells of “elite controllers”–people able to suppress HIV infection for many years–and isolated the genes that enabled those cells to bind tightly to HIV-infected cells and kill them efficiently. They then transferred those genes into “naive” immune cells–ones that did not recognize HIV-infected cells–to convert them into potent killers of those infected cells.
