http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID...mp;chanID=sa003

Endure, anything that deals with HIV and possible cures is on topic in this forum, I think. Thanks for the link. It sounds very hopeful.

Yes it is good news and offers hope, but we are 5-10 years away from clinical trial applicability.

Researchers have been using the Cre/lox technique to create genetically modified animals and plants with a selected or designated gene being externally regulated (i.e. manipulated by the researcher) since 1990.

This is one of those double edged swords that molecular biologists have to deal with. The big benefit is that (the lox part) relies upon a bacterial virus that has DNA foreign to both plants and animals the researcher can use it to target specific DNA without having to worry about it chopping up other parts of DNA bueprint.

The downside is that the process is not always perfectly specific. The unintended side effect is that it can cause some disasterous results, that molecular biologists politely refer to as “unintended gene expression”. In not so polite terms, this can take the form of other diseases, cancers and even outright cell destruction. i.e. the cure is worse than the disease. It is also a very expensive and time consuming course of research. This is why the biggest progress has been seen from the agriculture sector where the process is used to create genetically modified food. Yes, that’s right, “Frankenfood”. Back when I was an undergrad I can remember the food crop guys in the lab next to us using this for disease resistant studies on wheat. Monsanto gave them the money for the work I think. The orphan disease guys were lucky if they even got a lab with a window.

It puts alot of us into a quandry.

We oppose the development of GM foods, but it is that research and development that has paved the way and provided the initial funding for other applications.