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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."
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @10:12PM
...will insure that HIV is never truly eradicated.
It's amazing how decadent our society has become that people choose to become infected with a life threatening disease to be a member of a community.
In the end, chasers and givers will probably be sentenced to death or permanent quarantine for their mental illness.
Just remember, showing support for homosexuality supports the chaser community.
(Score: 2) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Friday July 31 2015, @10:53PM
I bet you'd look right smart in a pair of buttless chaps.
For many yeas Trojan refused to advertise their condoms in gay publications. Wouldnt want the straights to think Trojans were for the limp wristed see.
How many perished who would have lived had Trojan advertised in the magazines they read?
Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
(Score: 1) by Azuma Hazuki on Saturday August 01 2015, @06:20AM
Hey dipshit, lesbians have LOWER STI rates than straight women. If you wanna blame promiscuous men that's fine, but stop acting like all gay people are reservoirs of disease. I've only had one partner, another woman, and can guaran-damn-tee you I'm cleaner than the average hetero of either sex.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 2) by Reziac on Saturday August 01 2015, @01:02PM
With STDs, it's always wise to remember that you're not kissing just that one person. You're kissing everyone they ever kissed, and everyone those people ever kissed. You can be utterly monogamous, but what if your partner was previously involved with someone who wasn't? you can't control that. You can only control your own activity, and hope to be lucky about the rest.
And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.