The first human trial of a new type of HIV therapy suggests it could be a promising weapon in the fight against the virus.<\/p>\n
Reports in the journal Nature show infusions of so-called broadly neutralising antibodies could suppress the amount of HIV in a patient’s blood.<\/p>\n
The approach uses clones of immune proteins taken from a rare individual who has natural control of the disease.<\/p>\n
Scientists hope with further work this could bolster current treatments.<\/p>\n
‘Profound effects’<\/strong><\/p>\n People naturally mount a defence against the virus by producing an army of protein based weapons – antibodies. But in most cases these are not powerful enough to defeat it.<\/p>\n The international research team harvested copies of unusually potent ones, capable of neutralising many different strains of HIV.<\/p>\n Patients given the highest concentrations were able to fight the virus for some time, dampening the replication of HIV in their blood.<\/p>\n The strength of this protection varied – in some it lasted more than four weeks.<\/p>\n In the journal the authors said: “Our data establish that passive infusion of single broadly neutralising antibodies can have profound effects on HIV viraemia in humans.”<\/p>\n But because of the virus’s ability to mutate rapidly, in some patients it was able to outwit the therapy by changing structure over time.<\/p>\n To overcome this scientists suggest using this treatment alongside current drugs or together with other antibodies.<\/p>\n ‘Immune jolt’<\/strong><\/p>\n Prof Michel Nussenzweig of the Rockefeller University in New York, told BBC News: “This is different to treatment out there already on two counts.<\/p>\n “First because it comes from a human – so it is natural in that respect.<\/p>\n “And secondly it opens up the possibility of giving the patient’s own weakened immune system a jolt.<\/p>\n “One part of the antibody could act as a red flag – pointing out to the body where the virus is hiding and sending signals to kill it.”<\/p>\n They are now exploring whether the infusion could shield people from getting the disease in the first place.<\/p>\n But he cautioned that studies into the antibody are still small and at an early stage.<\/p>\n “We have shown the approach is safe and effective.<\/p>\n “What this trial is telling us is that it is now time to look at the possibilities – from prevention and treatment to even cure,” he said.<\/p>\n Commenting on the findings, Prof Vincent Piguet from Cardiff University, said: “This exciting novel study shows for the first time that antibodies may have a place in the line of therapies directed against HIV.”<\/p>\n He described it as an “important development in the fight against HIV” but said the costs of antibody therapy and the emergence of resistance must be taken into account.<\/p>\n –<\/p>\n Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first human trial of a new type of HIV therapy suggests it could be a promising weapon in the fight against the virus. Reports in the journal Nature show infusions of so-called broadly neutralising antibodies could suppress the amount of HIV in a patient’s blood. The approach uses clones of immune proteins taken from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":106855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-106852","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-chinese"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=106852"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106852\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/106855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=106852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=106852"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=106852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}