Anti-retroviral therapy, the “cornerstone” of cancer treatment, aims to kill HIV in the bloodstream but “leaves “HIV reservoirs” untouched”, the BBC reports. “Without drugs, the virus can come back at the same threat level for patients”. However, elements of the virus can still dodge the treatment, as HIV is programmed to survive and can even become invisible to the body’s immune system so drugs can’t detect it.
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“We’re excited to have recognized an impressive candidate for HIV reactivation and eradication that’s already accredited and is being utilized in sufferers”, stated Satya Dandekar, chair of the Division of Medical Microbiology and Immunology on the College of California Davis, in a. “This molecule has nice potential to advance into translational and medical research”.
A cancer drug was used, which revealed hidden HIV in the body. JQ1, another compound, was also recognized to be working synergistically with PEP005 to increase HIV activation by 15 times.
Eradication means activating latent virus and destroying it, a strategy called “shock and kill”. “As a result, we can see more dramatic viral activation”.
Dr Dandekar said: ‘We’ve made great progress, but at the end of the day you still have more than 30 million people walking around with HIV. The team at the UC Davis School of Medicine that investigated present anti-HIV drugs said these are only capable of targeting actively replicating HIV and are useless against cells containing dormant virus concealed within resting cells. PEP005 when combined with JQ1 increased HIV activation up to 15-fold.
While these results are promising, researchers are mindful that “shock” only works when it’s followed by “kill”.
“First, we need to identify the best combination of latency-activating agents”, Dandekar said. The effectiveness of the drug to entice out dormant HIV was demonstrated in studies using cells and then confirmed in a clinical trial involving 13 volunteer patients, infected with HIV. “Simply reactivating the HIV from latency will not be sufficient”.
The treatment is able to successfully attack active HIV, but completely ignores the dormant remnants that will cause trouble in the future. She also believes HIV vaccines in development could give patients an extra edge.
The compound molecule, PEP005, is found in a cancer drug called PICATO, which has been approved by the FDA and is used by many patients already.
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But discovering the effects of PEP005 and JQ1 as potent HIV-activators brings the world two steps closer to finding a cure for the disease.
