Scientists find HIV-AIDs full cure

A British man with HIV undergoing a pioneering treatment to cure him
of the disease has shown "remarkable" progress, doctors have told a
newspaper.

Scientists treating the 44-year-old patient are now hopeful of a
breakthrough in what has been described as "one of the first serious
attempts at a full cure for HIV".

Results showed the man's most recent blood test showed no detectable
HIV was present.

Results showed the man's most recent blood test showed no detectable
HIV was present.

The man, who has remained anonymous, is the first of 50 people to
complete a trial using the two-stage attack on the deadly virus.

The research is being carried out by a collaboration of five of
Britain's top universities organised by the National Health Service.

Mark Samuels, managing director of the National Institute for Health
Research Office for Clinical Research Infrastructure, told the Sunday
Times: "This is one of the first serious attempts at a full cure for
HIV. We are exploring the real possibility of curing HIV.

"This is a huge challenge and it's still early days but the progress
has been remarkable."

The trial patient told the newspaper that recent blood tests showed no
detectable HIV virus was present, although it was too early to confirm
that the treatment had worked.

The new therapy aims to overcome a major barrier to clearing the virus
from a sufferer's body that has challenged researchers for decades.

Current methods using antiretroviral therapies (Art) fall short of
ridding patients of HIV, as the virus can hide out of the drugs' reach
in the immune system's T-cells.

By sheltering in dormant T-cells the virus can later take over its
host and use it to produce thousands of copies of itself, should Art
no longer work.

The research by Oxford and Cambridge universities, Imperial College
London, University College London, and King's College London, is
testing a "kick and kill" technique to first expose, then destroy the
virus.

First a vaccine helps the body find infected T-cells. This is then
followed by a course of the drug Vorinostat that awakens the dormant
T-cells, which then begin producing HIV proteins that act as a homing
beacon to the immune system.

Imperial College London consultant physician Professor Sarah Fidler
said the treatment worked in the laboratory and there was "good
evidence" it will work in patients.

However she added: "We must stress we are still a long way from any
actual therapy."

--BBC