Mouse studies show gene therapy can cause big drop in latent herpes infections
fredhutch.org
fredhutch.org
It is unknown if it will work in humans. In addition, what are the long term consequences of causing multiple DNA cuts in nerve cells that the DNA repair mechanism cannot repair?
There is still a very long, long way to go.
If I read the article correctly the "cuts" are made to the DNA of the virus, not the nerve cell itself. [1]
[1] The hidden herpes viruses are disabled by an injection that tracks down infected nerve cells and induces them to make special gene-cutting enzymes, which work like a molecular scissors, to slash viral genes in specific places. Much of the team’s meticulous work of the past five years has involved finding better ways to target infected clusters of nerve cells and to thwart the virus’s ability to quickly repair the cuts to its genes.
To further clarify, the herpes virus leaves DNA plasmids inside the cell nucleus; the virus' DNA is NOT incorporated into the cell's genome (like HIV) and the meganuclease delivered by the AAV cuts apart those plasmids -- not the cell's own DNA -- and in this version actually leaves behind its own plasmid that acts as a sentinel making more meganucleases to guard against future HSV infections in that cell. The researchers are investigating ways to remove those AAV plasmids when the job is done for added safety.
We are becoming better with the molecular scissors, but 100 percent accuracy is AFAIK not there yet.
Again, I think the research and techniques are really cool, but your comment seems quite valid to me.
Having a vaccine is probably about the slowest way to figure that out, but if it turns out to be true then the problem is already solved.
According to the article, the researchers are currently focused on HSV-1, and may work their way to HSV-2.
At first glance, they're certainly reluctant to do so.
You can go blind, lose your sense of smell permanently, and get encephalitis from bad herpes outbreaks. It isn't just an inconvenience to those people.
And because herpes infects practically the entirety of the population, these problems are more common than you would expect.
And that's before we start chewing through all the viral data were going to get due to everybody actually paying attention to symptoms due to Covid. I suspect that the "viral hypothesis" people are going to have a field day for the next 10 years.
If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email hn@ycombinator.com and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. They're here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.
Just reminded myself that above frome couple years back
I'm pretty sure coronavirus reservoirs are just regular virus sitting around in parts of the body the immune system doesn't reach. Different problem.
https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2021-01-30/long-term-c...
That's unrelated from my general point though. The virus is gone in almost all people reasonably quickly.
My impression was that most people die from rabies if they get it, so you really want to vaccinate people with any risk of getting rabies. And the vaccine is amazingly effective. (+ you can still give the vaccine once people are infected if you're fast.)
A treatment of the root cause would be tremendous.
I got it very early as a kid, and kids are bad at not touching their face, so I most certainly moved it from my nose to my eye at some point.
I can also get it on my nose, in my nose, my lips, forehead. So far.
My kid is now almost 3, we were very careful, but he got it a few months ago, had it 3 times in the last three weeks. It destroys our life. We have a 6 month old, it could be life threatening for the little one if they just touch. And even if only mild, explain to a 6 month old he should not scratch his patch off his face...
I wouldn't worry about it , very likely you already had it for most of your life
The group has started a fundraiser with Fred Hutch less than 2 years ago, in order to extend the study further to HSV2 and guinea pig testing, beside the research on HSV1 in a mouse model, supported by the NIH. The fundraiser has had a great success and it has collected all the needed funds for the study in Guinea Pigs through the donations from many sufferers and thanks to a large donation of 250k from one person.
Because of this financial support that has been given, the researchers are in close contact with the reddit group that has supported their work and they communicate with them periodically during the year on the various milestones, sometimes to single members that are representative for the initiative, sometimes with an online meeting with questions and answers from all the participants.
If you are interested in following more closely this research, you can join the group. The next milestones for this year are the communication between Fred Hutch and the FDA, to find agreements on starting clinical trials at the end 2023 - beginning 2024. After this, the reddit group will receive an update from these agreements and suggestions on how to support Fred Hutch further. At the end of summer the results of the study on Guinea Pigs will be presented to us.
There are also opportunities of volunteering for the research group for the ones that live closer to their area.
Know that this research is very active and it is aimed at reaching clinical trials and the market.
Beside this, you will find many other informations on the website, like the similar research being conducted by ExcisionBio, in collaboration with Fred Hutch. And the clinical trial being done in China. Communications with Dr.Friedman on a therapeutic application of his vaccine and updates on clinical trials for herpes being conducted by other companies.
As a complete aside, I think this is a really interesting example of how a particular phrase has become part of the cultural vernacular. From the floor of the United States Congress, to t-shirts, to an article on herpes research. Pretty cool, imho.
>It will still take a long time before these experiments lead to the first human trials
And we'll never hear from them again. You betcha!
What you probably meant is the discovery of electricity.
I remember the stories during the summer. "mRNA is promising, but there never was an mRNA vaccine that made it to the market. Nobody knows if it'll work."
Well, it does work. Amazingly so.
Would their families also agree that they work amazingly so?
https://www.wric.com/health/coronavirus/man-in-70s-collapses...
So you can stop saying that now.