Researchers claim breakthrough in AIDS treatment

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Play VideoPainting the HIV/AIDS picture in China

WASHINGTON, June 21 (Xinhua) -- A group of Canadian and American researchers announced on Sunday they had discovered where the AIDS virus hides, a breakthrough that they claim could lead to a possible method for eradicating HIV infection.

The researchers believe a combination of targeted chemotherapy and antiretroviral drugs could be one day used to attack so-called "HIV reservoirs" -- immune system cells where the virus plays hide-and-seek.

"Current medications allow us to control HIV and limit its progression in most cases," said lead researcher Rafick-Pierre Sekaly of the University of Montreal, whose paper appeared in the journal Nature Medicine.

"However, the medications do not eradicate the disease. Instead, the disease persists within the body -- much like water in a reservoir -- and is never fully destroyed. We believe our latest research may help scientists and physicians overcome this hurdle," Sekaly said.

The researchers found that the AIDS virus is able to survive within two subsets of memory T-cells. Memory T-cells are a portion of the body's immune system and have the ability to learn, detect and attack certain types of infectious diseases.

Once the virus is hidden in these reservoir cells, it becomes dependent on them: if the cell lives, the virus lives, but if the cell dies, so does the virus. It persists in memory T-cells through cell division. As such, destroying these immune cells will lead to the elimination of the resilient or hidden parts of the virus, the researcher said.

Existing drug cocktails known as highly active antiretroviral therapy of HAART destroy the AIDS virus circulating in the body, yet cannot reach those hidden in reservoir cells, they said.

"Based on this research, we believe one possible method for eliminating HIV in the body is to use a combined approach," said Sekaly. "We propose the use of medications that target viral replication of HIV throughout the body, in combination with drugs that prevent infected memory T-cells from dividing."

"We believe that by attacking the disease in these distinct two ways at once for an extended period of time, we can eliminate the reservoirs of HIV that currently persist within the human body, leaving an individual disease-free," said Sekaly.

The researchers said their next step is to begin testing their proposed treatment method using animal models and newly developed therapies.

"While this is a preliminary finding, we are hopeful that this research discovery will guide us in eradicating HIV infection in the body," Sekaly added.