Researchers Hopeful Gene Transfer Technique Could Protect against Disease

Scientists are testing a strategy to re-engineer human bodies to resist infectious diseases, including HIV, Ebola, malaria, hepatitis, and influenza, according to a recent report in The New York Times. If successful, the technique could offer an alternative to conventional vaccines and provide protection against vaccine-resistant diseases.

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“It could revolutionize the way we immunize against public health threats in the future,” Gary J. Nabel, PhD, MD, chief scientific officer, Sanofi, told the newspaper.

A form of gene therapy, the approach is called immunoprophylaxis by gene transfer (IGT) and involves injecting artificial antibodies via viruses into muscle or other tissue. The viruses then invade human cells, incorporate the synthetic gene into the DNA, and the new genes theoretically instruct cells to start manufacturing potent antibodies, according to the newspaper.  

“We are going around the immune system, rather than trying to stimulate the immune system,” said David Baltimore, MD, a Nobel Prize winner who is testing IGT, in the The New York Times article. “So what we are doing is pretty fundamentally different from vaccination, although the end result is pretty similar.”

IGT has already proven successful in animal studies. Last month, a team of researchers at Scripps Research Institute announced it used IGT to eliminate HIV from infected monkeys.

The first clinical trial involving humans and HIV antibody genes is currently underway, with preliminary results expected this spring. Researchers say they are hopeful the approach will work.—Jolynn Tumolo

Reference

Zimmer C. Protection without a vaccine. The New York Times. March 9, 2015.