HIV treatment: Can cancer medicine cure HIV patients? Here's what researchers, doctors have found
Drugs that Can Kill HIV Virus
Actually, antiretroviral therapy can kill the virus and remove the traces of the virus from the body. But some traces of HIV remain hidden in the body and they can not be killed because they do not appear and can not be identified. They simply hide themselves within the immune system of the body. So, they remain hidden and appear as soon as the therapy is withdrawn. This is why the patient has to be on the medicine for his whole life, as per reports.
HIV Virus that 'Sleeps'
Most HIV patients of antiretroviral therapy have no or little chance of passing on these viruses and they can lead a normal life. But the virus is never entirely eliminated from the body. Talking to ‘The Standard’, Dr Oliver Mito, who offers HIV care and treatment said, “This is because some of the virus sleeps dormantly in the immune system cells, ready to replicate when ARV use is withdrawn, and therefore cannot be eliminated.”
Venetoclax can Kill 'Sleeping' HIV Cells
In a pathbreaking discovery, the scientists of Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research (WEHI) and The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, have found that the cancer drug Venetoclax can kill hibernating HIV-infected cells. A clinical trial is underway to determine if this drug can treat HIV patients, reports stated.
Hope for HIV Patients
Dr. Philip Arandjelovic, the co-author of the study, has said that the discovery can be an exciting opportunity in the treatment of tens of millions of people suffering from HIV. Venetoclax can kill the infected cells that depend on certain proteins. Thus the drug can antagonise the key survival proteins.
The clinical trials on humans will begin soon in the Australian city of Melbourne and it may be
