New hope for HIV cure

New hope for HIV cure

Melbourne scientists have made an important discovery that may help in the quest to find a cure for HIV.

Researchers from the Burnet Institute, Monash University and the Alfred Hospital have unravelled a mystery puzzling scientists about how HIV actually enters certain cells in the body and lies dormant.

Burnet Institute’s Centre for Virology co-head and Alfred Infectious Diseases Unit director Professor Sharon Lewin said one of the main barriers to curing HIV was determining how the virus can lie hidden in ‘resting cells’ for years, despite long-term treatment with anti-HIV drugs.

“Our team of researchers has now identified the path by which the virus can infect resting CD4 T-cells and establish latency,” Lewin said.

“We have shown that a family of proteins, called chemokines, that guide resting cells through the blood and into lymph node tissue can ‘unlock the door’ and allow HIV to enter and set up a silent or ‘latent’ infection. Once HIV gets into these cells, the virus can then go to sleep.”

Lewin said the ‘silently’ infected cells are then attacked by anti-HIV drugs or the immune system. When patients stop taking anti-HIV drugs, the virus can reawaken and start replicating.

Clinical immunologist and research co-author Dr Paul Cameron said understanding the mechanism HIV uses to lie dormant in cells allows for new treatments to be developed to target latent HIV infection.

Burnet Institute director Professor Brendan Crabb said the breakthrough heralds the beginning of a new chapter in the fight against HIV and AIDS.

“We have been working on HIV for close to 30 years and it’s really only now that we’re beginning to see that a cure for HIV might be achievable and needs to be a major scientific priority,” Crabb said.

The University of Montreal and Westmead Millennium Research Institute in Sydney were also involved in the research.

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