THE virus that causes AIDS is now being enlisted in the fight against the
disease. Researchers in Japan have shown that genetically engineered HIV can be
used to set a “booby-trap” in the immune cells that are the target of the virus.
If these immune cells are then infected by the wild virus, they will commit
suicide, preventing the virus from spreading.
“I believe that this is the first attempt to kill HIV-infected cells using
recombinant HIV vectors,” says Takashi Shimada of the Center for Advanced
Medical Technology at Nippon Medical School in Tokyo. “This strategy should be
highly useful…
