Researchers from the University of California, San Francisco have demonstrated for the first time that a combination of several immunotherapies can help control HIV without lifelong antiretroviral medications, News Medical reports . In a small clinical trial, seven out of ten participants had undetectable or low-level virus for several months after stopping standard therapy.
"This is unusual for HIV and resembles a situation where the body itself maintains the virus in a latent state," the authors commented.
The initial idea was to train the immune system to recognize and contain HIV in latent reservoirs. Participants were first administered a therapeutic vaccine, which stimulated T cells to attack the dormant virus in these reservoirs. They were then given a cocktail of HIV antibodies to further reduce the amount of circulating virus in the blood. Finally, before discontinuing standard antiretroviral therapy, they were given another course of antiviral antibodies.
This three-step approach was necessary to "warm up" the immune response and then allow the body to control the virus on its own after regular drug use was stopped.
Results
Typically, people with HIV experience a viral load increase within two weeks of stopping antiretroviral drugs. After the experimental treatment, only three of the ten participants experienced such a rapid increase. Six managed to maintain low viral loads for several months, and one patient's HIV never returned to measurable levels after stopping therapy.
"This contradicts the normal course of HIV and suggests that in some people, the immune system is capable of suppressing the virus for a long time after this combination of immunotherapy," the authors emphasized. According to them, the intervention doesn't simply temporarily suppress HIV, but actually alters the quality of immune memory.
The authors hope that these results represent an important step toward discontinuing lifelong antiretroviral therapy in future patients. If replicated in a larger sample, they could lead to true functional remission or even a potential cure for HIV.
Previously, other scientists demonstrated that one injection of the new drug is enough to provide protection against HIV for six months.
