| Ccr5 (14) |  |
| Cd4 (38) | |
The mutation is a short deletion in the CCR5 gene. The gene encodes a receptor that HIV uses to enter immune cells called CD4+T cells.
About 1%of the European population carries the CCR5 mutation in both copies of the CCR5 gene,
. If H tter could replace his patient's immune cells with cells that lacked the CCR5 receptor,
and H tter reasoned that one of those matches might also carry CCR5 mutations. Donor number 61 turned out to be the one,
In addition, there is another strain of HIV that does not use CCR5 receptors to invade cells.
One CCR5 inhibitor, called maraviroc, is made by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer and is approved for use in the United states and Europe.
Other companies are busy developing additional CCR5-targeting drugs. Unfortunately, maraviroc does not completely prevent the virus from binding to CCR5,
and it can only be used in combination with other antiretrovirals. Basically HIV can find its way around the drug and still use CCR5
says Riley, who adds that the virus might outcompete the inhibitor, or may be able to bind to a different region of CCR5 than the drug.
Others are trying gene therapy approaches to prevent CCR5 from being made at all. For example, Riley has been collaborating with Sangamo Biosciences,
a biotechnology company based in Richmond, California, to determine whether the company's technique for snipping out targeted genes could be used to delete the CCR5 gene.
Sangamo announced last week that it has launched a Phase I clinical trial that will involve removing a sample of the participant's T cells,
deleting the CCR5 gene, and then infusing the cells back into the patient. The trial is a first step towards ascertaining the safety of the technique not its efficacy
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