SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
News Corp. reports on a story in the Times of London (paywalled) about an experimental therapy for HIV. One of the 50 test subjects has completed the course of treatment and has no detectable HIV in his blood. As part of the procedure "a new drug called Vorinostat turns the dormant T-cells active so that they can be spotted and then targeted by the immune system." The intention appears to be to kill cells that have been infected, in order to effect a cure.
further information:
- Wikipedia article on Vorinostat (also known as SAHA or Zolinza)
- Expression of Latent HIV Induced by the Potent HDAC Inhibitor Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid
- Suberoylanilide Hydroxamic Acid Reactivates HIV from Latently Infected Cells
This discussion has been archived.
No new comments can be posted.
Testing of New HIV Treatment Begins with Favourable Result
|
Log In/Create an Account
| Top
| 5 comments
| Search Discussion
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
You can't have your cake and let your neighbor eat it too.
-- Ayn Rand
(Score: 5, Informative) by physicsmajor on Sunday October 09 2016, @05:27PM
HIV is great at hiding. The body kills what it can see, but when it's dormant inside otherwise innocent looking T-cells, it gets a pass. For quite a while, this stalemate is maintained. Eventually, though, HIV tips things in its favor.
Our ongoing HAART antiviral treatments do a very good job of helping the body stay ahead, and keeping the active viral load low. But these still can't affect the dormant HIV in hiding. So survival has gone up, but stop taking the drugs and the disease progresses.
Attacking the reservoir of dormant HIV is pretty much the holy grail. If this drug really does effectively mark or flag infected, dormant T-cells so the immune system can target them it's a big deal. Especially early in the disease, such a mechanism may well result in cures.
However, it's way early to start celebrating. Possible the drug doesn't penetrate into some tissues or CNS or something, and HIV comes back with some delay. But even if so, it would probably be a useful tool to add in to the HAART regimens.