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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: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 01 2015, @03:37AM
Of course you happen to be one of the few people that are willing to sacrifice their desires for the good of all humanity, but keep in mind that people are not generally wired that way.
People are selfish, they ignore problems until they become worse, they live in a world of wishful thinking, and they are horrible at risk assessment.