Scientists say they have made an
"exciting" step towards curing HIV by
forcing the virus out of hiding.
HIV can become part of someone's DNA
and lie dormant for decades, making a
cure impossible.
Early stage research in six people,
reported at the Aids 2014 conference,
shows that low-dose chemotherapy can
awaken the virus.
Experts said it was a promising start, but it
was unlikely the drug would work on its
own to cure HIV.
Anti-viral drugs can drive HIV down to
undetectable levels in the bloodstream,
meaning people who are HIV-positive can
have a near-normal life expectancy.
But there is problem. HIV can incorporate
its DNA into our own, where it lies beyond
the reach of drugs and the immune
system - it is known as the HIV
reservoir .
When drug treatment stops, the virus can
leap out of the reservoir and renew its
assault.
International research is aimed at flushing
the virus out of its reservoirs.
A team at Aarhaus University in Demark
tried using a chemotherapy drug,
romidepsin, which is used in lymphoma.
Six HIV patients with undetectable levels of
the virus were enrolled into trial.
They each received a reduced dose of
romidepsin once a week for three weeks.
There was a noticeable jump in viral levels
in the blood in five of the patients.
One of the scientists involved, Dr Ole
Sogaard, told the BBC: "Every step forward
is always exciting, and I think this is quite
important."
He said there had been a lot of scepticism
about the drug being potent enough.
"We've shown it is possible to kick the
virus out of the cells, the next step is to
actually kill the cells.
"The trial now moves into a new phase
which combines the romidepsin with
something to enhance the immune system
and in our case this is an HIV vaccine."
Side-effects were those normally
associated with chemotherapy, including
fatigue.

Difficult challenges
HIV viruses emerging from a hijacked cell
There are still many challenges ahead.
The team cannot say what proportion of
cells hiding HIV are being activated by
romidepsin.
Another looming question is which
reservoirs are being successfully targeted.
HIV can hide in immune cells in the blood,
but there are bigger reservoirs in the gut
and central nervous systems and it is not
clear whether they are activated by the
blood-based chemotherapy.
"We know it's a step forwards, but we
don't know how big, it might just be a
single step or it could be a great leap
forward," Dr Sogaard added.
Romidepsin works by "relaxing" tight
coiled up bundles of DNA. This exposes
the hidden HIV genetic code and leads to
the production of new viruses.
Dr Andrew Freedman, a reader in
infectious diseases at Cardiff University,
told the BBC: "As a proof of concept it
does look promising.
"The search for a cure is very much on,
it's not going to be easy and it's unlikely
a single drug like this would be sufficient.
"There's a lot of doubt it would be enough
to deplete the reservoir completely.
"Most people think a single approach will
not be enough, a drug like this perhaps
needs to be combined with vaccines or
even gene-therapy."

Correct! I so luv d efforts ppl put all ova d world 2 cure dis scorge. One day humanity will find a cure. Dis is sooo close 2 it alredy! Kudos 2 ya'll

Cancer is worse

[quote author=Akbee][/quote]but it isn't an epidemic.plus,it can be treated n cured wen dictated at an early stage.HIV is the oda way round as a cure is yet to be found although scientists av made tremendous effort at finding a lasting solution to it.Hiv can only be properly managed if detected at the early stage n is widely spread.