Achi news desk-
A new international study led by Ontario researchers shows promise in potentially curing HIV. If it makes it through human clinical trials, it has the potential to cure millions of people around the world, researchers say.
About 95 percent of people with HIV suffer from it chronically, which Ryan Ho, a master’s student at Western University in London, Ont., and co-author of the research, said can be defined as having the virus untreated for about a year. . This eventually causes a slow destruction of the patient’s immune system and can lead to acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS).
Worldwide, 39 million people are infected with HIV, of which 30 million are on a cocktail of drug treatments. There are side effects and problems with these treatments, mainly that individuals need to be on them for life.
“This small amount of HIV hides itself in their body, and when you remove the drugs the virus can rebound,” said Eric Arts, a professor at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry at Western University and Canada Research Chair. “This goal has been in HIV research for years now to try to find something that will tickle those last few cells that have HIV to release the virus so it can be killed.”
In this new study, led out of the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, their therapy has shown the ability to eliminate the last remnants of HIV in blood samples of those with the virus.
“We procured blood samples and applied our HIV virus-like particle, or HLP for short,” said Ho. “One more thing we are looking for is if our HLP, after we put it on the immune cells, can detect the HIV virus that is released from these immune cells by measuring the DNA output? That’s something we can show.”
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The first indication that this was an effective treatment was its previous success on blood samples from people treated very early in their infection, but less than one per cent of the 30 million people currently being treated started from within three months of infection.
Ryan Ho analyzes blood samples from participants with chronic HIV.
Megan Morris/Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry
The researchers then recruited around 50 people living with chronic HIV who had been on the current standard treatment for a significant period of time and had blood samples taken. The researchers used the HLP treatment on the blood samples much like it would be given as an injection to patients, and they found it to be a highly effective way of driving out and killing the remaining amount of virus in their blood.
“It’s very targeted, and we found out that it’s about 100 times more effective than anything that’s been tested before,” says Arts. “We could no longer see a virus that would be present that could cause them problems in the future.”
The next step is to ensure that the treatment is safe enough to progress to human clinical trials.
Ho says one of the most immediate takeaways from the research is the ability to reawaken the latent HIV hiding in the immune cells of people who have been adhering to other treatments for many years.
“Since we’re able to get blood samples from people who had been taking treatment consistently for over a decade for a couple of them, and are still reawakening this virus, it’s a hopeful takeaway,” Ho said.
The study was not without limitations, however. Researchers were unable to prove its effectiveness in those with subtype C of HIV, which is mainly found on the continents of Asia, some of Europe and the Middle East. But subtype C makes up the majority of the circulating virus.
“Targeting C and ensuring that the HLP is effective would be truly representative of the current state of infection in the world,” Ho said. “Our project is an international collaboration, but those are mainly in Uganda, in the United Kingdom, in Cleveland, and somewhere around Maryland, Baltimore, and Toronto, Ont. That’s just because of the collaborations we have with other teachers and other doctors.”
Ho says this logistical limitation is something researchers plan to address moving forward, as it is only an access limitation and can be corrected after various approval steps are completed.
“You can’t just get people’s blood,” Ho said. “There are ethics, bureaucracy to cross, consent forms to sign. But this (study) opens the door for that much more easily. “
For Ho, the preventative approach on the other side of this project is just as important. Highlighting, promoting awareness of and preventing the acquisition of HIV by promoting safe sex and harm reduction is another key focus in ending the epidemic.
“One thing I’ve been involved with in London is the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection where we focus on harm reduction kits,” Ho said. “People will use their substances, but we hope they also don’t get seven different viruses by using their substances.”
David Cummings, community relations manager at the Regional HIV/AIDS Connection, says this development is nothing short of innovative. If successful in clinical trials, Cummings celebrates the significance of the research and that the therapy could offer a cure for millions of people living with HIV.
“Today’s treatment options already allow people living with HIV to live long, healthy lives,” Cummings said. “This progress is another tremendous step forward in our collective response to HIV/AIDS.”
& copy 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
