Scientists discover how some people control HIV without daily medication
For decades, HIV treatment has depended on one hard truth: once medication stops, the virus usually comes roaring back. Modern antiretroviral drugs can suppress HIV so effectively that many people live long, healthy lives. They can work, raise families and prevent transmission. Yet the virus never fully disappears. It hides deep inside immune cells, waiting for another chance to spread. Now, researchers from Aarhus University Hospital and international collaborators have uncovered new clues about how a small group of people managed to keep HIV under control for years without daily medication. Their findings suggest the immune system may be capable of doing what medicine alone has struggled to achieve. The key appears to lie in a powerful partnership between antibodies and T cells. Summary of assays performed. (CREDIT: Nature Immunology) “We can see that two branches of the immune system work together to control the virus. One targets one aspect of the virus, the other targets another. Together, they are effective enough to prevent the virus from escaping,” said Professor Ole Schmeltz Søgaard of Aarhus …
