CRISPR/Cas9 method removes HIV from human cells

Researcher Kamel Khalili and his team at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, used the CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing system to remove HIV from several human cell lines, including microglia and T cells. Apart from cutting out one copy of HIV genome, they were also successful in excising its copy existing in a different chromosome while operating in the same cell. The CRISPR/Cas9 method prevented subsequent HIV infection, according to the team. 

Read more in The Scientist.

W. Hu et al., “RNA-directed gene editing specifically eradicates latent and prevents new HIV-1 infection,” PNAS, doi:10.1073/pnas.1405186111, 2014