New therapy permanently blocks HIV-like infection in monkeys
Staff Writer |
An international research team has developed an effective treatment strategy against the HIV-like Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) in rhesus macaques.
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According to the WHO, around 36 million people are infected with HIV and a cure for the deadly virus infection has not yet been found.
An international research team that includes scientists from the German Primate Center (DPZ), Leibniz Institute for Primate Research in Göttingen, has developed a new treatment strategy against the HIV-related Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV).
SI viruses infect different primate species and are regarded as the origin of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus.
In the study, SIV-infected rhesus macaques were treated with an antiretroviral drug for 90 days and in addition they were treated with a specific antibody for 23 weeks.
After finishing this therapy, all macaques showed sustained control of the infection as almost no SI viruses could be detected in the blood and gastro-intestinal tissues.
The CD4+ T cells that are essential for the immune system were present in sufficient numbers in these tissues.
Two years after finishing the treatment the viral load remained low, the immune system intact, and the rhesus macaques healthy.
The treatment strategy thus offers a new and promising approach to the therapy of HIV infections in humans (Science).
Antiretroviral therapy is currently the most frequently used treatment of HIV infections. The drugs effectively block the proliferation of the HI viruses in the infected cells and thus delay the onset of the disease.
However, these drugs have to be administered permanently since their discontinuation would immediately lead to virus rebound in the body.
Their continuous administration is accompanied by adverse effects such as chronic inflammation, poisoning symptoms and accelerated aging.
"The aim of the study was to find a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of infections with immunodeficiency viruses, which would permanently prevent the proliferation of the viruses even after only temporarily application," says Lutz Walter, head of the Primate Genetics Laboratory at the DPZ and co-author of the publication. ■