WILL DISEASES ALWAYS OUTSMART US?

摘要

IN 2008, KORONIS PHARMA-ceuticals wrapped up the second phase of trials for a new HIV treatment described as a "mutation booster." PopSci soon wrote about the intriguing procedure, which would supposedly introduce mistakes into the virus's DNA and cause it to self-destruct: "In the movies, this technique, known as lethal mu-tagenesis, would create a supergerm, but in real life it's spawning a powerful new class of antiviral drugs." The therapy failed to trigger viral suicide, and experiments ceased. HIV deaths have since fallen sharply thanks to prophylactic medication, safe sex, and drugs that keep the pathogen from replicating, but the virus continues to elude one-shot methods. "It plays a cat-and-mouse game with the immune system," says Bali Pulendran, a professor of immunology at Stanford. HIV mutates at breakneck speed, throwing off any specialized response human cells create to fight it.