Ground-breaking Study Could Pave Way to HIV Cure

Rebecca Lewis October 14, 2015

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Researchers from Oxford University found that the way a patient’s immune system responds to HIV infection could offer clues as to whether they will go on to achieve remission after drug treatment. The breakthrough sheds light to the existence of ’post-treatment control’ - the phenomenon wherein the virus remains undetectable in some patients even after medication is stopped. 

The findings could open new avenues for understanding post-treatment control of the virus, and ultimately the eradication of HIV, Dr John Frater said.

In the study, the researchers compared the T-cells - a type of white blood cell that forms part of the body’s immune system - of 154 patients in Europe, Brazil and Australia, who had their anti-retroviral treatment interrupted after 12 or 48 weeks. And from there, they came up with a shortlist of 18 immune system biomarkers.

’Normally, if someone is being treated for HIV infection and they stop their medication, the virus can be detected back in the blood stream within days.’ says Dr John Frater, one of the researchers.

"We have been trying to find out why this is not true in all patients.

"But, that in some people the virus remains undetectable for months, and even years after stopping treatment. 

’Understanding this might help us develop new treatments, and ultimately a cure for HIV infection.’

He said the new findings will open new avenues to understand and ultimately eradicate HIV.

’Our work has identified that there are certain markers on the immune cells of patients which seem to predict who can stop therapy and stay well.’ The researchers found that the said markers have also been shown to be good targets for therapy in some cancers. 

Currently, patients are advised to start the treatment as soon as they are diagnosed with HIV. However, the therapy is delayed until a patient’s viral load reaches a certain level.

But drug treatment is not a cure. The infection persists in latent cells, ’hidden’ reservoirs, from where they can re-emerge.

How to destroy such ‘reservoirs’ is still the focus of HIV research.

The researchers found that in patients where high levels of these three biomarkers attached to ’exhausted’ T-cells prior to patients beginning anti-retroviral therapy, they were more likely to experience an earlier rebound, post treatment. The researchers recommend that such biomarkers now be considered in future research in investigating how to target HIV virus.