http://www.piercepioneer.com/new-hiv-treatment-aims-to-starve-out-the-virus-instead-of-actively-kill-it/41338Trying to stop the human immunodeficiency virus—HIV—has not been too successful until recent history. But that does not mean that we are out of the woods yet. Still, the new developments show great promise; and one, in particular is incredibly innovative. “This compound can be the precursor for something that can be used in the future as part of a cocktail to treat HIV that improves on the effective medicines we have today,” explains study author Harry Taylor. The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine assistant professor in Medicine-Infectious Diseases goes on to say that HIV needs to grow in a specific type of immune cell (CD4+ T-cell). He says, “It is essential to find new ways to block HIV growth, because the virus is constantly mutating. A drug targeting HIV that works today may be less effective a few years down the road, because HIV can mutate itself to evade the drug.”
Now, current HIV medications can, in fact, stop HIV growth but they do not affect abnormal excess activation and immune cell growth triggered by HIV. In addition, Dr. Richard D’Aquila of the Northwestern University HIV Translation Research Center notes, “This discovery opens new avenues for further research to solve today’s persisting problems in treating HIV infection: avoiding virus resistance to medicines, decreasing the inflammation that leads to premature aging, and maybe even one day being able to cure HIV infection.” “It’s a monster that invades the cell and says ‘feed me!'” Taylor retorts, noting “Perhaps this new approach, which slows the growth of the immune cells, could reduce the dangerous inflammation and thwart the life-long persistence of HIV.”
