EbioMedicine breakthrough! Researchers take an important step towards curing AIDS!

July 15, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Researchers have developed a way to separate HIV from potential hosts, allowing the immune system to see the virus and offering the possibility of killing the virusPart of theis that once the virus enters the body, some of them lurk in cells, leaving the immune system and antiretroviral drugs largely invisiblethis hidden virus, known as the "hidden bank," prevents the cure of people living with HIVanti-AIDS drug combination can reduce the level of the virus in the body, but it is not able to measure disease through routine testing and disease-free lifeBut if a person stops their life-long treatment, some hidden viruses will quickly appear, although some remain dormant"Our goal is to completely remove the virus from hibernation through targeted strikes so that the remaining viruses can be killed," said Eric Arts, a professor of medicine and dentistry at eBioMedicine Western Ontario University and lead researcher on the studyNow we have shown that we can do this in a sample of early AIDS patients, hopefully this will lead to targeted treatment strategies"by studying the cells of HIV-positive people who were treated early in the disease, the researchers demonstrated for the first time that their formula, Activator Vector (ACT-VEC), successfully targeted potential HIV savings banks."by reactivating the dormant HIV, they take it out of hiding so it can be killed by antiretroviral drugstheir findings published in the journal EBioMedicineDrJamie Mann, who was involved in the study while studying in the Shulik Department of Medicine and Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario, is now a lecturer in vaccines and immunotherapy at the University of Bristol"Antiretroviral therapy works by disrupting all aspects of the HIV replication cycle," he addedif the virus does not replicate, the drug will not have an effect on itby reactivating the virus, we can suppress it through antiretroviral therapy, or we can target it through the body's immune response"This is a strategy known as "electric shock and kill" and now the team has shown that they can get the virus out of its latent state with an electric shock, and the next step will be to determine whether they can activate the body's immune cells to kill the virus the team specializes in viruses hidden in white blood cells (T-cells) these cells are activated by the immune response, protecting us from viral infections -- including the most important cells infected with HIV research suggests that viruses may actually be hidden inside cells designed to kill viruses and help control infections "The ACT-VEC is specifically designed to activate these cells, which previously responded to THE HIV virus and are still dormant," explains Professor Arts this activation has a dual purpose -- it stimulates the remaining viruses out of hibernation while inducing the immune system " () References: Researchers make first steps a cure for HIVJamie F.S Mann et al A targeted reactivation of the latent HIV-1 use an activator vector in patient samples from acute infection, EBioMedicine (2020) DOI: 10.1016/j.ebiom.2020.102853