Why We Chose HIV and CCR5 First

For the first gene surgery in embryos, the He lab chose one specific gene surgery based on safety and real world patient benefit. First, the gene we chose, CCR5, is one of the best studied genes. More than 100 million people naturally have a genetic variation that disables CCR5, protecting them from HIV. Our surgery reproduces this variation to disable CCR5. Decades of clinical trials have targeted CCR5, including the first gene editing trial in the United States. There are also technical factors, such as how distant the gene is from other genes, that improve the safety profile of this gene for editing. Second, HIV remains a deadly disease and a top cause of death in many countries, although not in the United States and Europe. New infections remain more than three times higher than UNAIDS goals for 2020. Discrimination can make an infection a more serious threat to life.
We will publish our full data soon.
He Jiankui Lab Website: www.sustc-genome.org.cn