50 people recently began a trial of treatments that scientists hope would eradicate HIV cells from the entire body. A 44-year-old British man is the first to complete the treatment.
The patient is a social care worker in London but doctors would not provide an identification. According to his statement: “It would be great if a cure has happened. My last blood test was a couple of weeks ago and there is no detectable virus. I took part in the trial to help others as well as myself. It would be a massive achievement if, after all these years, something is found to cure people of this disease. The fact that I was a part of that would be incredible.”
Research was conducted at universities, including Cambridge, Oxford, University College London, Kings College London and Imperial College London. They report that the virus is undetectable in his blood, although they do admit that this could result from the use of regular drugs. If the same result is found with dormant cells, it may be the first cure of HIV.
The current anti-retro viral therapies target HIV while it is attacking the immune system. HIV replicates itself into the DNA of T cells so they ignore the disease as the virus reproduces. The current therapies do not target dormant infected T cells. The new therapy, however, works in 2 stages. In the first stage, the body is cleared of cells infected with HIV. In the second stage, a drug known as Vorinostat activates the dormant T cells. It is designed to help the immune system identify and fight the infection.
“This therapy is specifically designed to clear the body of all HIV viruses, including dormant ones,” said Professor Sarah Fidler, a consultant physician at Imperial College London. “It has worked in the laboratory and there is good evidence it will work in humans too, but we must stress we are still a long way from any actual therapy. We will continue with medical tests for the next five years and at the moment we are not recommending stopping Art but in the future depending on the test results we may explore this.”
Researchers feel that there will be several years yet in the study before it is completed. Professor Fiddler made the following statement: “We will continue with medical tests for the next five years and at the moment we are not recommending stopping Art but in the future, depending on the test results we may explore this”
The chief executive of the HIV/AIDS charity Terrence Higgins Trust, Ian Green, had a similar statement: “There is still no cure for HIV and we welcome this ambitious study which looks to eradicate the virus completely from the bodies of people living with HIV, instead of suppressing it.”
Worldwide, it is estimated that more than 37 million people live with HIV. In the UK, the number is in excess of 100,000 people, although it is estimated that one in five people do not know they have the virus. Prior to this test, only one individual was “functionally cured” of HIV after receiving a stem cell transplant from a donor resistant to the virus.
Via: Second Nexus
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