HIV-infected H9 T cell. (Image by NIAID, from Flickr)
A University of California, Los Angeles-led team of researchers made advancements in a method designed to kill HIV-infected cells, moving scientists a step closer to possibly eliminating the virus altogether, according to a study published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications.
“These findings show proof-of-concept for a therapeutic strategy to potentially eliminate HIV from the body, a task that had been nearly insurmountable for many years,” said Dr. Jocelyn Kim, assistant professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and the study’s lead author, in a press release. “The study opens a new paradigm for a possible HIV cure in the future.”
HIV/AIDS, which was once considered a death sentence, has become manageable in recent years with antiretroviral medication designed to keep the virus at bay. However, the virus still has the chance to elude the treatment by lying dormant in cells, according to UCLA. When a person stops taking the medication, the virus emerges from those reservoirs and replicates in the body.
The study builds on a “kick and kill” method originally developed in 2017. The approach uses cells naturally produced by the immune system to kill infected cells inside the body, according to Kim.
In the 2017 study, researchers took mice whose immune systems had been altered to mimic those of humans antiretroviral drugs and infected them with HIV. They then administered a synthetic compound developed at Stanford University to activate the mice’s dormant HIV. The study found that up to 25% of the previously dormant cells died within 24 hours.
“But a more effective way to kill those cells was needed,” read the release.
This time around, the researchers used the compound to “flush” HIV-infected cells out of hiding. Then, the mice were injected with healthy natural killer cells to kill the infected cells.
The new combination improved the numbers, completely clearing the HIV in 40% of the mice, according to the study.
As an additional step, the researchers also analyzed the mice’s spleens, a place where HIV-infected cells could be hiding. Yet, they did not detect the virus there, suggesting that the HIV-infected cells were eliminated.
The team’s goal is to refine the approach to eliminate HIV in 100% of the mice.
“We will also be moving this research toward preclinical studies in nonhuman primates with the ultimate goal of testing the same approach in humans,” Kim said.
According to the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), 38 million people are currently living with HIV. Since the virus began circulating, over 36 million people have died from complications due to the disease.
