The AIDS epidemic is one that plagues the entire world, let alone the Latino community. Since being discovered in 1981, the disease has claimed over 25 million lives and estimates suggest that 33.4 million people currently live with AIDS, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has estimated that Latinos account for 20 percent of the new HIV infection cases in the United States and a problem that faces the community is awareness. As such, the HIV epidemic is a public health concern for the community. In terms of cures, the 2013 calendar year has brought forth many groundbreaking developments in the search for a cure.
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One big step towards a cure is being taken by scientists and clinicians from five universities in the UK--Oxford University, Imperial College London, the University of Cambridge, University College London and King's College London -- who will be tresting a cure for HIV. The trial, which will have results by 2017, will be conducted by CHERUB collaboration, courtesy of a £1.7 million
grant from the Medical Research Council
(MRC), and will work with the five universities. As part of the trial, 50 patients in early stages of the HIV infection will undergo the treatment which, hopefully, will reduce the HIV reservoir in the patients.
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What is the HIV reservoir? HIV manages to remain in the patient because the virus cloaks itself so that it can live in the blood cells without being detected by the immune system and making it resistant to therapy. The HIV reservoir is where the HIV hides, after it copies its genetic code (the RNA) into the DNA of human cells. With this treatment, the drug aims to change the status of the HIV from dormant to active and then the vaccine in the drug will facilitate the destruction of the infected cells via the immune system. Currently, antiretroviral therapy (ART) is considered to be effective in preventing the virus from reproducing. In the study, half the patients will be given the treatment with ART and the other half will be given the treatment with an ART placebo.
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"We can only truly know if someone is cured of HIV if we stop giving them antiretroviral therapy," said Dr. John Frater of Oxford University, a researcher in the trial. "We're not going to do that, but we will test if we can reduce the number of HIV-infected cells in these patients. If we can, it will prove in principle that this strategy could work as a cure, even though it will need many more years of further development." Dr. Sarah Fidler, from Imperial University, stated: "We know that targeting the HIV reservoir is extremely difficult but our research in the labs has led to some very promising results. We now have the opportunity to translate that into a possible new treatment, which we hope will be of real benefit to patients."
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