UNMC researchers announce major step toward possible cure for HIV

OMAHA, Neb. -- Scientists made major medical announcement Tuesday involving an important step toward a possible cure for HIV.

Researchers say a "cure for HIV is possible" after they were able to eliminate the virus responsible for AIDS from living animals.

Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center and Temple University say they used a combination of two different therapies to eliminate HIV for the first time from the genomes of infected mice.

"We are celebrating the idea that HIV has the potential now to be eliminated," said Dr. Howard Gendelman, chairman of UNMC's pharmacology and experimental neuroscience department and a senior investigator on the study.

"We never thought that even with the vaccines and trials that HIV could be eliminated, but today things have changed."

The study shows scientists used CRISPR-Cas9 based gene editing technology and a therapeutic treatment called LASER ART on infected humanized mice.

Researchers say the breakthrough provides a pathway to future studies in humans.

The study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communication.