Mouse studies show gene therapy can cause big drop in latent herpes infections

.. In mice.

It is unknown if it will work in humans. In addition, what are the long term consequences of causing multiple DNA cuts in nerve cells that the DNA repair mechanism cannot repair?

There is still a very long, long way to go.

>DNA cuts in nerve cells that the DNA repair mechanism cannot repair

If I read the article correctly the "cuts" are made to the DNA of the virus, not the nerve cell itself. [1]

[1] The hidden herpes viruses are disabled by an injection that tracks down infected nerve cells and induces them to make special gene-cutting enzymes, which work like a molecular scissors, to slash viral genes in specific places. Much of the team’s meticulous work of the past five years has involved finding better ways to target infected clusters of nerve cells and to thwart the virus’s ability to quickly repair the cuts to its genes.

I am baffled why you are being downvoted. While this research is very promising, it's also not hard for me to imagine a scenario where these targeted molecular "DNA scissors" do something unexpected. And while the risks of gene editing seems worth it for fatal or debilitating diseases, I don't think I'd want to be on a trial for this for a disease that is primarily an annoyance.

Again, I think the research and techniques are really cool, but your comment seems quite valid to me.

>If I read the article correctly the "cuts" are made to the DNA of the virus, not the nerve cell itself. [1]

To further clarify, the herpes virus leaves DNA plasmids inside the cell nucleus; the virus' DNA is NOT incorporated into the cell's genome (like HIV) and the meganuclease delivered by the AAV cuts apart those plasmids -- not the cell's own DNA -- and in this version actually leaves behind its own plasmid that acts as a sentinel making more meganucleases to guard against future HSV infections in that cell. The researchers are investigating ways to remove those AAV plasmids when the job is done for added safety.

What bothers me is that every single good news coming from science has the same old "but".

>It will still take a long time before these experiments lead to the first human trials

And we'll never hear from them again. You betcha!