Scientists have made a big step in the fight against HIV. Although the research is still ongoing, these are results that can guide further studies.
A new vaccine-based treatment offers hope that people infected with HIV will soon no longer need to take daily therapy.
Experts have combined two new HIV vaccines with a drug normally used for cancer, in an experimental treatment that lasted three years at the "IrsiCaixa Aids" Research Institute in Barcelona.
After receiving the therapy, the virus could no longer be detected in five of the 24 patients, and its spread was prevented by the patients' immune system, writes New Scientist. One of them has been off HIV medication for seven months because he tested negative.
The scientist who led the project, Beatriz Mote, said her team was on the right track to discovering a therapy that could be an alternative to AIDS antiretroviral drugs (ART).
According to the UN, about 18 million people - half of those living with HIV worldwide - are taking ART to slow the progression of the infection. However, these drugs are expensive and can have very unpleasant side effects, and patients have to take them every day.
Mitchell Warren, executive director of Avak, a non-profit organization that provides vaccines to patients, told the Independent that the study was conducted on too small a sample to draw concrete conclusions, but that their findings were interesting and important. He added that this is an example of a therapeutic vaccine, intended for already infected people.
Dr. Mote and her team gave patients diagnosed with HIV a combination vaccine that stimulates the growth of white blood cells that recognize and destroy cells infected with the virus.
The research participants also took ART for three years, and during that time the state of their immune system was monitored.
Then 15 patients received a higher dose of the new vaccine combination that literally 'washed' the virus out of the tissues where it can cocoon.
The virus quickly returned and started to spread again in 10 patients, so they continued to take ART, while in five patients the test was negative.
In some cases, there was no longer a need for daily medication for several weeks, and in one case even seven months, reports Jutarnji.hr.
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