This electron microscope image made available by the U.S. National Institutes of Health shows a human T cell, in blue, under attack by HIV, in yellow, the virus that causes AIDS. (Associated Press) The FDA has given the OK to Excision BioTherapeutics to begin human trials on a treatment and possible cure for HIV.
The treatment is based on CRISPR technology and requires just one infusion. CRISPR is a technology to edit genes. It finds a specific bit of DNA inside a cell and alters that bit of DNA.
So far, three people have been cured of HIV when they received bone marrow transplants as a treatment for cancer. The donors had genes that were resistant to HIV.