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Ancient viruses brought back to life in the lab
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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Scientists are confident that viruses are best used for gene therapy, primarily because of their ability to make changes to the genetic apparatus of the body's somatic cells, while viruses are capable of continued life and reproduction.
In a new research project, scientists and experts have restored several ancient viruses, and specialists have also used them to treat laboratory animals (for diseases of the muscles, retina, and liver).
As scientists noted, gene therapy is considered an experimental treatment method. This treatment involves the use of genes instead of surgery or drugs – nucleic acids are introduced into the tissue, which prevent or suppress the pathological process.
Experts suggest that the new study will help to better understand the biological structure of, for example, adeno-associated viruses. Experts intend to create a new generation of viruses to continue developments in the field of gene therapy.
The author of the new scientific project was Luke Vandenberg, from Harvard Medical School.
Adeno-associated viruses are microscopic microorganisms that penetrate the human body but do not cause any pathological processes. It is precisely due to this unique feature that these viruses are ideal for gene therapy.
The researchers chose one of the viruses that lives among people. But the researchers encountered one problem: as it turned out, having encountered the virus once, the immune system “remembers” it upon repeated infection and tries to destroy it. For this reason, the effectiveness of gene therapy based on such viruses was limited.
The team decided to create a new type of benign adeno-associated virus that the immune system would not recognize, giving enough time for the genes to be delivered to cells. Such viruses would make gene therapy available to most patients.
Scientists note that such types of viruses are quite difficult to create, as they have a complex structure. To achieve their goals, scientists decided to use ancient viruses. When studying the viral pedigree, researchers traced the history of the evolution of viruses and established the changes that have occurred to them throughout their existence.
In the laboratory, scientists recreated 9 ancient viruses with a complete structure. During testing on laboratory animals, they found that the most ancient virus copes with the task as efficiently as possible, namely, delivers the necessary genes to the liver, retina, muscles, while the scientists did not detect any negative reactions from the body or toxic effects.
Now scientists continue their research and try to create new, more advanced forms of the virus so that they can be used in clinical practice. In addition, they intend to check whether ancient viruses can be used to treat blindness or severe liver diseases, and it is likely that the practice of using viruses for treatment will become a common practice in future medicine.
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