Danish HIV breakthrough

A new technique being trialled by Danish researchers could represent the closest science has ever come to developing a cure for HIV/AIDS.

The method involves activating the hidden reservoirs of HIV virus that remain dormant in a patient’s DNA, even after years of treatment, that have thus far stymied medical efforts to do any more than suppress symptoms with constant medication. The new method aims to have the patient’s immune system destroy the virus once it has been activated.

The technique is similar to one tested by Melbourne researchers in February, who successfully ‘lured’ the virus out of immune cells of almost 20 trial patients using the cancer treatment drug vorinostat.

A team of researchers at the Aarhus University Hospital (AUH) in Denmark are conducting clinical trials to see if the method will prove effective. Fifteen patients are undergoing the treatment with preliminary results expected in the second half of the year.

AUH senior researcher Dr Ole Søgaard, who is a member of the research team, claimed to be “almost certain” the virus will be activated in the trial.

“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, as well as how large a proportion of the hidden HIV is unmasked,” Søgaard said.

If the trial is successful, it could eventually lead to a cure for HIV/AIDS, saving HIV-positive people from the expense and insecurity of constantly medicating themselves.

However, it is likely the trial’s success will not see a rollout of treatment for at least five years, with further clinical trials and testing needed to ensure its effectiveness and monitor potential side-effects.

In 2007 Timothy Ray Brown was effectively cured of HIV after received a bone marrow transplant and extensive drugs and radiation therapy after contracting leukaemia, and in July 2010 a baby girl was “cured” after being treated with aggressive HIV medication shortly after birth.