The New York Times is reporting that a single infusion could suppress HIV for years.
This gene therapy uses the same technology that has been developing for the past 10 years to treat some cancers by modifying a patient’s own immune cells to recognize and kill malignant cells. In a new study, two people have remained at undetectable levels of HIV two years after an infusion. The goal is for the therapy to last a lifetime, but is years away from being widely available.
This treatment is different from the injectables currently available to treat HIV. Those medications suppress the virus for several months keeping it at undetectable levels. But without an injection every two months, the virus can come roaring back. The current goal with that treatment is to get a shot once a year.
This new treatment seems to eliminate the virus and is being called a possible cure. The injection seemed to work best on people who had just recently been exposed to the HIV virus.
Researchers said that because HIV mutates easily, the altered T cells that are injected back into the patient should be designed to attack the part of the HIV cell that doesn’t mutate.
— David Taffet