Originally posted by Devinder:
the idea is really cool - its kind of telling only the really awesome part of the story. Here's one article that looks into some more detail Link |
Understanding the whole picture here is really important â thanks for the link.
Originally posted by Linked Article:
How does HIV fit into the picture?
Promoting the video, the Upworthy website boldly states that the doctors are injecting âHIV into a dying girlâ, and that she received a âdeadly diseaseâ. This is a serious bending of scientific truth, and very misleading.
In fact, the researchers are using a type of virus called a lentivirus to reprogramme the T cells. This family of viruses â of which HIV is a member â are particularly skilled at sneaking into cells and embedding their genetic code within the cellâs DNA. Unsurprisingly, this makes them a good vehicle for smuggling in the genetic instruction telling T cells to attack the cancer.
According to the video, Professor June says that the virus used in these experiments was originally derived from HIV, and we hear the film-maker asking off-camera âSo youâre taking the HIV virus and infecting healthy cells with it to help kill cancer?â However, the virus has undergone significant genetic tinkering, meaning that it is no longer harmful (as June does go on to explain). And itâs arguable whether it should even be referred to as HIV at all, given how much it has been altered.
And the researchers didnât inject any virus into anyone. As weâve explained, they took immune cells out of the patient, treated them with the virus in the lab, then injected the modified cells back in. |
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