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New treatment locates, destroys dormant HIV

By Harold Lee

Sept. 29, 2003 9:00 p.m.

UCLA scientists have found a way to not only pinpoint dormant
instances of human immunodeficiency virus hiding in the body, but
to destroy them, according to a study published earlier this
month.

Revealing stowaway HIV involves stimulating T-cells, where the
HIV hides, into causing the virus to “peek out” of the
cell, said Jerome A. Zack, one of eight authors of the study and
associate director for the UCLA AIDS Institute.

An immunotoxin ““ an HIV antibody coupled with a bacterial
toxin ““ is then applied to seek out the infected T-cells and
destroy them before they can manufacture the virus.

The technique devised by the scientists was found to eliminate
80 percent of T-cells containing HIV, Zack said.

HIV is able to evade detection by hiding within T-cells, which
are the immune system’s defense cells.

Though current methods of treatment can drop the amount of HIV
to undetectable levels, the infection can rebound.

“Low level reservoirs of latent HIV are impervious to
treatment,” Zack said.

When T-cells are called into action, production of the HIV virus
is reactivated, he said.

The experimental model involved transplanting human thymus
tissue, which creates T-cells, into mice that were bred without
immune systems, so they would not reject the tissue. The mice were
then infected with HIV, forcing the tissue to produce T-cells
ridden with the virus.

Initially, the model was developed to study latent HIV, as
HIV’s ability to hide within T-cells was not completely
understood.

“We developed a model to know exactly what latent HIV
is,” Zack said.

While using previous techniques, scientists found that
approximately one in a million T-cells in patients are harbored
latent HIV, but in the test model using this new detection
technique, one in 10 cells were found to harbor the virus.

Drugs currently used to treat HIV cannot be used for more than
about five years due to the extreme toxicity of the drugs and the
adaptability of the HIV virus to medication, Zack said.

“It’s estimated that it would take 70 years to clear
the body of the virus using current drugs,” he said, adding
that extended use of HIV medication would cause health
complications.

Medicines currently used to combat HIV can cost up to $18,000 a
year. If the new method is found to work in humans, Zack envisions
that patients would just have to be treated in a few sessions to
purge the body’s reservoirs of HIV.

“It would be a one shot deal, if it worked,” Zack
said. “People wouldn’t have to pay $18,000 a year for
treatments.”

The technique may be used in conjunction with other treatments
to purge the body completely of the virus and take people off of
HIV medication, he said.

“We’re hoping to combine (the technique) with other
methods to strengthen the immune system,” Zack said.

Researchers tested out different compounds to
“tickle” T-cells and decided that a protein called
interleukin-7 works the best.

“People have tried before and used different techniques,
but they were largely unsuccessful,” Zack said.

Previous attempts by other researchers to reveal latent HIV have
produced some undesirable results, including triggering
unrestrained HIV production and altering the cell functions of
normal T-cells.

However, the use of IL-7, a protein naturally found in the body,
does not stimulate T-cells enough to trigger a full-blown HIV
infection or to affect healthy T-cells.

The World Health Organization estimated that at the end of 2002,
42 million adults and children worldwide lived with HIV/AIDS.

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Harold Lee
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