Image: David K. Stein, MDDr. David K. Stein, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine (Infectious Diseases), took part in a groundbreaking research study that uncovered the possibility of HIV being cured by removing a protein from infected patients' immune cells.
Albert Einstein College of Medicine and University of Pennsylvania scientists used a "gene editing" technique--isolating and disabling a particular gene--to get rid of a protein on the patients’ immune cells that the virus must latch onto to invade.
The study was published in the March 6, 2014 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, and was also featured in the New York Times.
"This unique therapeutic modality appears to be truly transformational. Such work brings honor to Jacobi, to Einstein, and to the AIDS department," said Dr. Robert Sidlow, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine (General Internal Medicine) and Interim Chairman of Medicine at Jacobi Medical Center. "I anxiously await long-term results from trials of this ZFN technology."
Image: Scanning electron micrograph of HIV-1 (in green) budding from cultured lymphocyte (Wiki)Dr. Stein is the Director of Adult HIV Research at Jacobi Medical Center, and has been a principal investigator for the Mycoses Study Group, as well as directing research sites for the ACTG and the CPCRA. He is one of only a handful of investigators with extensive experience conducting gene therapy trials for the treatment of HIV infection. Dr. Stein has been an active member of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He oversees the training of infectious disease fellows in his HIV clinic, and also regularly participates in education of the housestaff and medical students.
"We warmly congratulate Dr. Stein on the stunning success of the gene editing treatment of HIV study in which he has been involved," said Dr. Liise-anne Pirofski, Professor of Medicine (Infectious Diseases) and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases. "Please stay tuned for a date in the spring when he will present his work to the division at Wednesday rounds."