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: 2) by darkfeline on Friday July 31 2015, @07:36PM
Awesome stuff. Maybe HIV will follow the path of smallpox.
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(Score: 3, Insightful) by Francis on Friday July 31 2015, @08:53PM
And if people would stop having unprotected sex or at least stop after they've tested positive, HIV would have been eradicated decades ago.
It's rather frustrating seeing so much money being wasted on preventable illnesses that could be spent on ones that can't be prevented.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:58PM
Try holding your breath while you wait for people to stop having sex.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @11:14PM
I'd rather lynch the inferior primitive apes who can't control themselves.
(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.
(Score: 2) by Gravis on Friday July 31 2015, @08:53PM
while curing diseases this may be great for the short-term, one has to wonder about the long term. diseases do one job that (sane) people don't want to do: population control. the exploding global population is a problem and the destruction of our planet the evidence. the best long-term solution is intergalactic colonization but there has been meager investment in accomplishing it. it's quite the quagmire.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @09:01PM
That doesn't work so well with diseases like AIDS. If a disease takes a while to kill someone, then it can reduce the productivity of their friends and family.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:24PM
The antiviral drugs do not kill the cells that produce HIV. Antivirals only inhibit spread of the virus.
(Score: 2) by ikanreed on Friday July 31 2015, @08:42PM
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.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:56PM
"[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.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 31 2015, @08:37PM
The study only looked at reservoirs that were CD4+ in peripheral blood. There are many other reservoirs so this would need to be combined withother drugs.
(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.