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In a tentative first step toward a
possible AIDS cure, US researchers have used the cancer drug vorinostat to
revive and unmask latent HIV in clinical trial patients’ immune cells. The
ability of the HIV genome, or reproductive code, to hide out in cells only and
revive after decades has posed a major obstacle to a cure. Exposing the virus
in its hiding place would allow scientists to target and destroy its host white
blood cells: CD4+T cells.
According to David Margolis,
co-author of the study, “This is proof of the concept, of the idea that the
virus can be specifically targeted in a patient by a drug, and essentially
opens up the way for this class of drugs to be studied for use in this way,” he
said in an interview at the 19th International AIDS Conference.
The eight patients in the clinical
trial were also on antiretroviral drugs, which stop HIV from multiplying but
have to be taken for life because they do not kill the hidden cells. “After a
single dose of the drug, at least for a moment in time, [vorinostat] is
flushing the virus out of hiding,” Margolis said. It is the first drug to do
so.
Although the virus would die without
a host cell, Margolis added, “If it is only 99 percent true and 1 percent of
the virus escapes, it won’t succeed. That is why we have to be careful about
our work and what we claim about it.”
In published comments, HIV
researcher Steven Deeks said that while promising, the study raises ethical
concerns about giving potentially toxic drugs to HIV-infected people who are
otherwise healthy. Also, HIV immunologist Quentin Sattentau said other types of
reservoir cells, including those in the brain, may not respond to this treatment.
The study, “Administration of
Vorinostat Disrupts HIV-1 Latency in Patients on Antiretroviral Therapy,” was
published in Nature (2012;487:482-485).
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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