BIOLOGICAL SCISSORS AGAINST AIDS.

3 articles appeared last week in Science, are possible candidates to scientific breaktroughs of the year. 1) the first one (already, commented by us), is the genomic bacterial transplants, carried out by C. Venter and colleagues 2) total eradication of the HIV-1, virus and its genotype in the laboratory, by means of biological scissors (we comment it today) and a but deep article that we will comment tomorrow :3) related with what is given in calling EVO-DEVO (questions to natural selection`s postulates and organic evolution, settled down by Darwin).

Up to now the therapies to combat the virus of the AIDS don't achieved their final goals (total eradication and/or death of the virus). For that reason when - for some reason - the medication is interrupted (that is of for life), the illness reappears. Some scientists even speak of failure to eradicate this viral epidemic. We believe that the total cure of the AIDS should be based on immunologic mechanisms (vaccination) or others, inside them a more appropriate study of certain affected people (African prostitutes, previously sick) – self-cured - without medications of for half. The paraphernalia of current medications try to impede: a) the union of the virus to the cellular membrane b) the generation of double viral chains (with antiretrovirals), annulling the action of the enzyme reverse transcriptasa c) putting obstacles to the action of the integrase enzyme impeding the entrance of the virus to the cellular nucleus or: d) annulling the action of cellular proteases (that normally conducts protein proteolysis by hydrolysis of the peptide bonds that link amino acids together in the polypeptide chain), an then the adequate shaping of the virus, etc. That´s to say the drugs alone achieve palliative goals. The illness is stopped, but not eliminated. Inside the new therapies against the virus, we find interesting to mention the work of German researchers (Hamburg AIDS, Heinrich-Pette-Institute for Experimental Virology and Immunology and Dresden Max-Planck-Institut for Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics), who have eradicated (killed the HIV-1 integrated provirus and its genotype in the laboratory, in hardly 10 weeks). For it, during 2 years they modified (created an evolved variant), of the enzyme recombinase (usually in charge of to recognize and to cut accurately certain areas of the human normal genotype :DNA). After 129 improved generations of the enzyme recombinase, they were able to obtain a tailored recombinase, the same that after recognizing an asymmetric sequence within the HIV-1 LTR, slowly went eliminating it in cellular cultures, disappearing it with it genotype, until finally to expel virus´remains of affected cells (limphocytes). Nevertheless, Hauber is conscious that his recombinase could also cause damage to normal DNA. For that reason, he says that after 3 years of experiments with animals, they will be clever to begin the clinical tests.