I can extract side effects.

Chapter 321 HIV cure plan, route dispute

Boom boom boom!
There was an unhurried knock on the door, and Tang Que and Wen Renlong pushed the door open and entered.

"Sit down, list the advantages and disadvantages of your own plan, and then debate from both sides. Whoever has more advantages will choose whose plan."

Sitting at his desk, Wei Kang said calmly.

The two had serious faces, as if they had just quarreled, and their expressions were also very serious. They nodded at the same time and sat down.

"Okay, which one of you will come first?"

Wei Kang leaned back and looked at the other party with interest.

The first person to talk about his plan will definitely meet the stormy rebuttals and challenges from the other party, and he must be very confident.

Tang Que crossed his arms and said in a deep voice, "I'll come first. My gene therapy plan is undoubtedly the best, and no one can deny it."

"Hmph!" Wen Renlong snorted coldly, expressing his protest.

Tang Que ignored him, but talked eloquently, detailing his plan.

"I believe that you already know the key role of the CCR5 gene in the treatment of HIV infection. Since the natural deletion of the CCR5 gene can make people immune to HIV virus infection, we only need to replicate the treatment process of these four 'cured' patients That's it."

"Our gene editing technology is already very powerful, and there are many successful gene drug cases. The knockout editing of a single gene like this couldn't be easier."

"Just like in the past, we only need to inject the gene agent into the patient's bone marrow and knock out the CCR5 gene in the new hematopoietic stem cells, and then we can continuously produce healthy white blood cells, thereby completely curing AIDS."

Wen Renlong sneered and said, "It's a simple idea. You can only replace the patient's infected white blood cells, but there are still HIV virus reservoirs in the cells of other organs of the patient. What if there is a comeback?"

Tang Que said angrily: "You are just exaggerating. As long as the HIV virus is no longer detected in the body after the antiretroviral drugs are stopped, it will be considered cured. There are four ready-made examples, which have proved that this way can be achieved. , don’t you even read it?”

"Hehe, you also know that there are four examples, not forty, four hundred, or four thousand?" Wen Renlong said strangely.

"You!" Tang Que glared at him angrily. Seeing his playful smile and his indifferent appearance, he had no choice but to look at Wei Kang.

"Okay, Tang Que is right, don't raise an argument, since there are already actual examples, we can't ignore them."

Wei Kang tapped the table to correct one of the wrong debate methods.

Wen Renlong finally became serious, propping his chin with his left hand, and muttered.

"Have you ever considered that the CCR5 gene is not a dispensable junk gene? It is very important to the human immune system. It can not only protect against many viruses, but also protect the lungs of patients with severe infectious diseases and chronic diseases. , liver and brain and other vital organs."

"The CCR5 gene produces an immune response in vivo against West Nile virus, Flaviviridae, tick-borne viruses, dengue and yellow fever viruses, which can cause severe encephalitis in severe cases."

"At the same time, the CCR5 protein can also mobilize key immune cells to fight against lung viruses. Without this gene, this defense system will fail, and the risk of patients dying from influenza is four times that of ordinary people, and our country is a high incidence of influenza. land."

"As for the loss of CCR5 in other chronic diseases such as hepatitis C and diabetes, it may also be harmful, but the specific role is still unclear. In short, the loss of CCR5 gene will lead to serious adverse consequences."

"Many genes do not just play a single role, but have complex effects on the human body. Our research and understanding of this area is not deep enough. Gene editing is not a panacea solution, so I don't think it is necessary to To completely eliminate the HIV virus requires such an extreme plan, which requires patients to take such a large risk."

"Of course, I know you will definitely say that AIDS is a very serious disease. The stigma it brings to patients has been discolored for a long time. If patients have the choice, they will definitely be willing to knock out CCR5 Gene to take off the big hat."

"But that's not why you can ignore these immune risks. Patients can take antiretroviral drugs and maintain a normal life for a long time."

Tang Que frowned, lost in thought, but couldn't refute for a long time.

Wei Kang asked curiously: "It seems that this plan has great hidden dangers, so can we consider a more thorough solution, directly knocking out the inserted HIV virus gene fragment from the patient's DNA?"

"Wonderful!" Tang Que slapped his thigh suddenly, shouted, and looked at Wei Kang in shock.

"Why didn't I think of such a good plan, yes, why knock out the original human genes, which will lead to more health risks, why not just knock out the HIV virus from the DNA."

He sighed bitterly: "Hey, I was misled by other people's treatment plan, so I didn't think about it. My fault! I actually lost my independent thinking, and followed others. It really shouldn't be."

Wei Kang quickly comforted: "Don't blame yourself, it's really normal for insiders to be trapped by their inherent thinking."

Tang Que gave a thumbs up: "Mr. Wei, as an outsider like you, your thinking will be more straightforward, and you can often jump out of the box. I will discuss it with you more in the future."

Then, he began to seriously consider the feasibility of knocking out the HIV virus gene.

"Although our technology has been able to perform gene editing in multiple places in the body, after the HIV virus infects the human body, it will reproduce in large numbers in various body cells throughout the body, and thus spread all over the body."

"It is still very difficult for gene medicine to knock out virus fragments in the cells of the whole body, and it needs to be treated continuously, and the time will be calculated on an annual basis. This will undoubtedly greatly increase the cost. I am afraid that the price will be a Astronomical figures."

Wen Renlong didn't raise an argument at this moment, but was thinking seriously.

He interrupted suddenly: "So, is it possible to fight poison with fire?"

"As we all know, after the virus enters the human body, it will spontaneously infect all human cells, which is much more efficient than any gene drug."

"Then can we take advantage of this characteristic of the virus? Encapsulate the gene editing drug in the plasmid shell of the virus, so that the virus can still maintain infectivity, but what it injects into the cell will no longer be its own DNA, but the gene." Edit Drugs."

"In this way, we can take advantage of the characteristics of the virus, wrap the good medicine in the shell of the virus, vacate the cage and change the bird, and fight the virus with the virus, so as to completely eliminate the HIV virus."

The more Wen Renlong talked, the more excited he became: "When the time comes, curing AIDS will be like getting a vaccine. Just one shot will cure the disease."

"How about this idea? Hahaha~" He couldn't help laughing out loud at the end.

Tang Que was dumbfounded, stared at him for a while, hesitated to speak, and finally choked out a sentence.

"You're a fucking genius!"

Wen Renlong's thinking has always been unconventional. For any problem that makes people feel helpless, he can always propose unexpected solutions from an unusually tricky angle.

Now Wei Kang has seen how powerful he is, and understands why many big companies can tolerate his reckless and weird personality.

Of course, he just proposed a solution, whether it can be done or not depends on your ability.

So Tang Que quickly said with a bitter face: "This plan is good, but it's too difficult, and we won't see any results in the short term. Aaron, you're deliberately trying to create problems for me."

Wenren shook his head like a rattle, expressing his resolute refusal to take the blame.

"You understand me. I have an inspiration, but I don't have a specific solution. The rest is up to you. But with your ability, it will take a little time at most, and it will be resolved sooner or later."

"Look at Old Chen. After three years of sharpening your sword, you will become a blockbuster if you don't sing. You have to learn from him."

Tang Que glared at him angrily: "You have bad intentions, don't think I don't know, you look amazing with this, but the very difficult plan trapped me, and in the short term, the company will only We can adopt your plan, right?"

Wen Renlong smiled and said: "How is it possible? Which one of us is with whom? I, Aaron, such a pure and kind boy, can have any bad intentions?"

Tang Que shook his head, did not speak any more, but concentrated on thinking, immersed in the solution of the new plan.

In a few words, Wen Renlong abolished the opponent's plan, making him unable to compete with him in a short time, and couldn't help but smile.

He was so happy at the moment, he leaned over and said with a smile: "Boss, Brother Que, he has no intention of fighting with me, why don't you just decide on my plan?"

Wei Kang secretly laughed, but said with a straight face: "No, the agreed rules cannot be invalidated casually, it's up to you."

"Well, in fact, my plan also starts with the CCR5 gene. There are many new anti-AIDS drugs targeting the CCR5 target, and the current ones mainly include CCR5 antagonists, monoclonal antibodies, gene therapy and T cell therapy."

"I chose the less aggressive CCR5 antagonist solution. As long as the antagonist binds to the CCR5 protein, it can reduce the binding of HIV to the cell surface, thereby preventing the HIV virus from entering the cell and playing an anti-infective role."

"This is already a very mature treatment plan. The only one currently on the market is maraviroc developed by ViiV Healthcare, a CCR5 antagonist against HIV infection. Its sales in 17 reached 1.5 million US dollars."

Wen Renlong obviously had done detailed homework and memorized it by heart, and he continued talking endlessly.

"At present, there are more than 20 new drug projects under research targeting CCR5 targets in the world, and 20 of them are indicated for HIV infection. One of the projects for HIV infection has been launched, which is Maraviro as I just mentioned. Three are in phase III clinical trials, 1 are in phase II clinical trials, 3 are in phase I/II clinical trials, 6 are in phase I clinical trials, and 2 is in preclinical research.”

"This target is quite popular, and even many domestic companies are making efforts in this area, but they have not made breakthroughs for the time being."

"I think that with the strength of Sanqing, we must not lag behind others, and we must participate. I am very confident in this aspect, and I will definitely be able to succeed in research and development ahead of them."

Wen Renlong said confidently: "The most important thing for a CCR5 antagonist is to have a good effect, to have extremely high specificity, and the affinity of the CCR5 protein must be as high as possible, so as to block as many HIV infections as possible. "

"Otherwise, with so many CCR5 proteins on the cell surface, your drug can only bind 50% or 60%. How can this work? Then the remaining HIV virus can still invade the cell and infect it. This is the difference between 1 and 0, no Median."

"CCR5 antagonists currently in clinical use only have a drug binding rate of 80% at the highest, which may be enough for other pharmaceutical companies, but it is far from enough for Sanqing."

"We need to find a drug that can achieve a CCR95 protein inhibition rate of more than 5%, preferably 100%, so that patients can be completely cured."

"Finally, the side effects of such drugs must also be low enough. Several antagonists have been discontinued because of serious adverse reactions."

"However, there is no need to worry about this. Our AI pharmaceutical technology is not inferior to gene editing technology. We can completely modify its structure, and then obtain drugs with higher antagonistic activity and no toxic side effects."

"In this regard, the biological macromolecular drug CCR5 peptide antagonist is also a good choice like the small molecule antagonist. It is safe and does not produce toxic effects, but it is also unstable and easily digested and degraded. Combining the two can achieve the effect of 1+1>2.”

"I always feel that drug combination is the main direction for the treatment of AIDS in the future."

"Currently the first-line treatment for AIDS patients is cocktail therapy, which requires long-term administration of inhibitors of other links in the virus life cycle, such as reverse transcriptase inhibitors, protease inhibitors and fusion inhibitors, which is equivalent to a chronic disease and can be Relief, but not cure, and that's what makes patients miserable."

"In order to develop more drug-resistant anti-HIV drugs, combining CCR5 antagonists with these drugs and taking them for a long time can inhibit virus replication to the greatest extent, so as to achieve the goal of being close to a cure."

"HIV is a very cunning and treacherous virus, and it must be eradicated in a multi-pronged manner. The current popular treatment is cocktail therapy, and patients will only need to take more drugs in the future."

"Before Tang Que's gene medicine comes out, CCR5 antagonists are the best solution."

"Patients taking CCR5 antagonists for a long time can also achieve the effect of CCR5 gene deletion. Although we don't know the relapse rate after stopping the drug, at least it can be regarded as a 'cure' solution."

After Wen Renlong finished speaking, he looked at Wei Kang expectantly, as if he was waiting for a compliment, almost wagging his tail wildly.

Wei Kang was very relieved that each of these subordinates was better than the other, which made him feel a little pressure.

Immediately nodded in approval and said: "Good job, sounds like a great plan, I agree."

He glanced at Tang Que who was still thinking hard, his eyes straightened, and the corner of his mouth twitched.

"You also have a share in Tang Que's plan. Discuss with him more, and try to help solve any problems."

When Wen Renlong was praised by the boss, he felt comfortable all over, his tail was raised higher than the sky, and he immediately said triumphantly.

"As soon as Old Tang was in a daze, he just lost his mind. Don't worry about him. He will definitely come to me when he wakes up."

Wei Kang nodded slightly: "It should be so, Sanqing has you crouching dragon and phoenix chicks, why not be prosperous?"

Wen Renlong's face froze: "Crouching dragon and phoenix chick don't seem to be a good word."

"No? I think this word is very good, it suits you two very well!"

Wei Kang said affirmatively.

(End of this chapter)