Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

HIV Can be Flushed Out of its Hiding Places in the Body Using a Cancer Drug

posted by janrinok on Friday July 31 2015, @06:51PM   Printer-friendly
from the we-can-see-you dept.

basstard writes:

BBC reports:

HIV can be flushed out of its hiding places in the body using a cancer drug, researchers show. The cornerstone of treatment, anti-retroviral therapy, kills the virus in the bloodstream but leaves "HIV reservoirs" untouched. The study, published in PLoS Pathogens, showed the drug was "highly potent" at reactivating hidden HIV.

Experts said the findings were interesting, but it was important to know if the drug was safe in patients.

The power of the HIV reservoir was shown with the case of the Mississippi baby. She was given antiretroviral drugs at birth. Despite appearing to be free of HIV for nearly two years after stopping treatment, she was found to be harbouring the virus.

A strategy known as "kick and kill" is thought to be key to curing HIV - the kick would wake up the dormant HIV allowing the drugs to kill it. The team at the UC Davis School of Medicine investigated PEP005 - one of the ingredients in a treatment to prevent cancer in sun-damaged skin. They tested the drug in cells grown in the laboratory and in parts of the immune system taken from 13 people with HIV.

The report said "PEP005 is highly potent in reactivating latent HIV" and that the chemical represents "a new group of lead compounds for combating HIV". One of the researchers, Dr Satya Dandekar, said: "We are excited to have identified an outstanding candidate for HIV reactivation and eradication that is already approved and is being used in patients."

Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
HIV Can be Flushed Out of its Hiding Places in the Body Using a Cancer Drug | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 15 comments | Search Discussion
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.

  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday July 31 2015, @08:42PM

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Friday July 31 2015, @08:42PM (#216526) Journal

    Right, but when the virus is reproducing, it causes a stress on the host cell that frequently leads to cell death. If you can prompt it, in conjunction with anti-virals, you can reduce the infection footprint.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  
    Total Score:   2  

  • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:56PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:56PM (#216531)

    "[the drug] can effectively reactivate latent HIV in vitro and ex vivo with relatively low cellular toxicity"
    Not so much with CD4s.

    CD34+ cells do tend to die when the virus is activated, but they did not test them in this study and I'm not sure how responsive they would be to PKC-NFkB activators.

    The cell will start presenting HIV antigens, but we'll have to wait for a follow-up to see if there is adequate immune recognition of these cells.