A research team affiliated with U.S. institutions and the Wuhan Institute of Virology developed an adenoviral system designed to deliver DNA-editing machinery into human blood-forming stem cells for HIV-related research.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
A joint research project involving U.S. institutions and the Wuhan Institute of Virology developed a DNA-editing viral system intended to modify human blood-forming stem cells, with funding support that included grants tied to the Department of Health and Human Services and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The work was described in a Modernity News report and in additional reporting by researcher Jon Fleetwood, who said the project involved a U.S.-Wuhan research collaboration focused on a DNA-editing virus designed for HIV-related gene therapy.
The Wuhan Institute of Virology, part of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, became internationally known after the COVID-19 pandemic and its connection to debates over coronavirus research and the origins of the outbreak.
Fleetwood said the research drew support from multiple sources.
“The research was funded by multiple National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants under HHS, grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and support from biotechnology company Ensoma Bio,” Fleetwood said Friday. “The author affiliations include the University of Washington, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, and the State Key Laboratory of Virology and Biosafety at the Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences.”
According to Fleetwood, the international team “engineered an adenovirus designed to deliver DNA-editing machinery into human blood-forming stem cells.”
The researchers said the goal was to create resistance to HIV, or human immunodeficiency virus, by modifying cells connected to immune function.
“The stated purpose of the study was to genetically engineer human stem cells to resist HIV infection,” Fleetwood said. “But the experiments raise broader questions about the risks of funding purported viral systems designed to permanently alter the human body.”
The submitted material also pointed to renewed debate over genetic technology after claims that mRNA COVID gene therapy injections have been shown to alter DNA in vaccine recipients. The same material said the involvement of the Wuhan Institute of Virology makes the research especially notable because of the lab’s association with COVID-related controversy.
The DNA-editing research focused on HIV immunity. The submitted material also said the COVID virus appears to have an HIV-like delivery system grafted onto a coronavirus.
Earlier HIV-related genetic research included a medical experiment conducted from 2009 to 2013 that tested a DNA-editing mRNA shot for HIV. The trial was tied to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, where Anthony Fauci served as director during those years.
Fleetwood said research into HIV immunity continues.
“According to the paper, the researchers claim to have engineered modified helper-dependent adenoviral (HDAd) vectors to carry CRISPR-derived base editors programmed to alter the human CCR5 gene. Rather than editing cells outside the body before transplanting them back into a patient, the researchers say they designed the adenovirus to deliver the gene-editing machinery directly into blood-forming stem cells inside a living subject,” Fleetwood said. “Hematopoietic stem cells continually produce new blood and immune cells throughout a person’s life. By altering the DNA of those stem cells, the researchers say they sought to create a continuing supply of immune cells lacking a functional CCR5 receptor, which HIV is said to commonly use to infect cells.”
The approach described in the study aims to move gene editing inside the body, rather than relying on procedures in which cells are removed, edited and returned to the patient.
“The paper describes the work as part of a broader effort to move human gene editing from ex vivo procedures—where cells are removed, genetically modified, and reinfused—to in vivo editing performed directly inside the body using purported viral delivery systems,” Fleetwood said.
Fleetwood raised concerns about the implications of public and private funding for research involving viral systems that can deliver gene-editing tools into living cells.
“American taxpayer dollars and Gates Foundation funding helped finance a U.S.-Wuhan collaboration that engineered a virus to carry purportedly human DNA-editing machinery into living cells,” Fleetwood said. “The study illustrates continued government investment in purported viral delivery systems designed to make permanent changes inside the body.”
The abstract of the study described the technical findings and the intended HIV application.
“Here, we present an HIV gene therapy strategy by in vivo precision gene editing in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). We successfully generated a panel of helper-dependent adenoviral vectors expressing all-in-one base editors (HDAd-BEs) targeting the CCR5 gene. In an HIV-permissive cell line, transduction with the HDAd-BE vector led to near-complete target site editing, CCR5 knockout, and inhibition of HIV infection. In HSC-enriched human CD34+ cells from mobilized donors or cord blood, we measured efficient precision base editing after HDAd-BE transduction and selection. Following in vitro T cell differentiation and HIV infection, we demonstrated that HIV genome titers were significantly lower with precision CCR5 base editing. Importantly, in a humanized mouse model, in vivo transduction with the HDAd-BE vector followed by selection resulted in ∼50% base editing at the CCR5 target site in bone marrow mononuclear cells, which conferred ∼12-fold lower HIV plasma titers than control animals after HIV challenge. No significant off-target editing and adverse effects associated with the treatment were observed. By targeting HSCs to precisely engineer HIV-resistant cells in vivo, our strategy represents an efficient, durable, and affordable approach to achieve a functional cure for HIV infection.”
The research presents the technology as a potential path toward an HIV functional cure, while critics cited in the submitted material argue it also raises larger questions about oversight, funding and the risks of viral systems designed to make lasting genetic changes inside the human body.