Researchers at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium have developed a method that could render HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) permanently harmless, the Brussels-based news agency Belga reported.
New research, the results of which were published in the scientific journal "Nature Communications", has discovered a way to completely disable the virus in cells in a laboratory setting, which Professor of Molecular Medicine Zeger Debiser described as a "scientific breakthrough".
"A lot more clinical research is needed before a new treatment can be developed, but this is a big step forward," Debiser said.
An average of 600.000 people die from HIV infection each year worldwide. However, thanks to antiretroviral drugs, which stop the virus from multiplying, the quality of life of patients has improved significantly, and the number of new infections has dropped significantly. However, because the drug only suppresses the virus, patients must take it for life.
Previous research by Debiser's team has already allowed researchers to disable the virus's "GPS system," meaning it can no longer integrate into human DNA at its most convenient location. This prevents the virus from spreading, but some of them still manage to bypass this barrier by accident.
The research team therefore decided to find a new treatment method. By giving viruses a barcode, the team was able to determine where the viruses integrate into DNA and in the latest study focused on blocking those locations.
"The first agent disables the car's GPS system, meaning it can no longer find the optimal parking spot. The second agent then closes the barriers at all other parking lots, meaning the car can't park anywhere," Debiser explains vividly.
However, the virus is not eradicated from the body, but instead goes into a deep sleep. Combining the two methods would mean that patients would no longer have to take medication for life.
Debiser says further research is needed to prove this, though. The first method the team developed is currently in clinical trials. Clinical trials of the new method have not yet begun.
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