Researchers Think There Will Be A Cure For HIV Soon

[rawTOP]

IRMA just tweeted an article I find pretty interesting...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/10022664/Scientists-on-brink-of-HIV-cure.html

Even when you're undetectable HIV likes to hide out in certain parts of your body - meaning ARVs can never get rid of all the HIV in your body. Well, scientists in Denmark think they've figured out how to release the HIV from those hiding places so it circulates more generally in your body at which point it can be killed off.

The scientists are currently conducting human trials on their treatment, in the hope of proving that it is effective. It has already been found to work in laboratory tests.

The technique involves releasing the HIV virus from “reservoirs” it forms in DNA cells, bringing it to the surface of the cells. Once it comes to the surface, the body’s natural immune system can kill the virus through being boosted by a “vaccine”.

These [trials] are now under way, and according to Dr Søgaard, the early signs are “promising”.

Dr Ole Søgaard, a senior researcher at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark who is part of the research team, said: “I am almost certain that we will be successful in releasing the reservoirs of HIV.

“The challenge will be getting the patients’ immune system to recognise the virus and destroy it. This depends on the strength and sensitivity of individual immune systems.”

Fifteen patients are currently taking part in the trials, and if they are found to have successfully been cured of HIV, the “cure” will be tested on a wider scale.

Unlike a drug trial the results of this study won't take years to figure out. They could know the results pretty soon.

If nothing else, this is why governments need to fund scientific research. Drug companies are focused on treatments they can sell and make a profit on. The Danish government has invested $2.1 million in this research so far.

I see two questions here... First, are they just being optimistic or is there really a chance, after all these years, that we're going to see a cure of HIV/AIDS? It almost seems unreal and so many scientists before them have been optimistic about other approaches and failed.

Second question... This isn't a vaccine - so people will still get HIV. In fact someone could be cured and then get it again. So how will this affect behavior? Will this replace ARVs? Will guys get into a cycle of getting HIV and clearing it like they do with other STDs?

[KNOT4ME37]

Interesting, could be life changing.

[GermanFucker]

I see two questions here... First, are they just being optimistic or is there really a chance, after all these years, that we're going to see a cure of HIV/AIDS? It almost seems unreal and so many scientists before them have been optimistic about other approaches and failed.

The idea that you have to get the latent HIV out of hiding has been discussed and evaluated for years. Trials with valproic acid a few years ago weren't a smashing success. In 2012 the focus had shifted to HDAC inhibitors and teams from Australia and the US claimed "inspiring" first successes with vorinostat:

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/hiv-treatment/hiv-cure/3509-croi-vorinostat-a-first-step-on-the-road-towards-a-cure-for-hiv

AFAIK research is still ongoing, as are clinical trials:

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01319383

If I understand it correctly, what the Danish are doing is basically exchanging Vorinostat for Panobinostat and modifying the study design from a tentative evaluation of efficacy to trying to answer the question "Is it doable?" (and maybe even without accompanying ARVs) as soon as possible.

Second question... This isn't a vaccine - so people will still get HIV. In fact someone could be cured and then get it again. So how will this affect behavior? Will this replace ARVs? Will guys get into a cycle of getting HIV and clearing it like they do with other STDs?

I guess it will be the same as with HepC, which some guys have multiple times and then have to go on interferon for half a year to clear it out of the system. For them it's not a life sentence, but most still dread it like hell because of the more aggressive curative therapy.

[bearbandit]

This has been all over the UK press the past few days (I know because one paper uses a different colour sets for the for photo). It's definitely up there with the bright ideas that I wish I had a penny for but I don't see it working as well as they hope. Once the virus is liberated from its hiding places it has to be eradicated in pretty short order before it starts reproducing again. When I say eradicated I mean that the total virus is reduced to at least less than an infectious dose and then, presumably a month, or more, of PEP. For those of us who had our passenger (plucks number) twenty years or more the virus may have more hiding places than we know about. There was a saying in the nineties that your immune system was only as strong as your lowest CD4 count. If that turns out to be true, the treatment could be worse than the illness with guys going from good health to having PCP, KS, all the disease we stopped working on because there was no need.

I think we're at a stage where we're learning more about HIV than ever before. I think this one gets chucked onto the knowledge pile with the rest: it may work for some recently infected individuals, but as I've been reading the story, it won't do much for those of us who'e had it for a long time. I share rawTOP's sense of unreality on this one and venture to guess I've been around the block a few more times and have seeen a few more more scams and failures.

As for the second question, that's what we did in the seventies. Part of my argument for barebacking is that it's now essentially an STI, though incurable but controllable. When I worked at Gay Switchboard (London), our advice then was that if you weren't monogamous - and who was? - then visit the clinic every three months to make sure all you had to pass on was cum. So guys are going to be catching and re-catching HIV, and for a few, this is going to mean ARVs: name me a medical procedure or illness whose cure is 100%.

It's been an extraordinary year of progress with HIV, but what we have to remember is that , for the most part, these treatments are first stepping stones. But at least we can see the fucking stepping stones!