WEDNESDAY, Sept. 24, 2003 (HealthDayNews) -- A technique that drives hibernating HIV out from hiding places in the body may offer a way to kill the virus, says a study in the September issue of Immunity.
"Our findings show potential for flushing HIV out of its hiding places in the body," principal investigator Dr. Jerome Zack, associate director of basic sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles, AIDS Institute, says in a news statement.
"If our method proves successful, it may enable HIV-infected individuals to discontinue costly and complex antiretroviral therapy, which can cause serious side effects," Zack says.
"Immune cells can't kill HIV if they can't detect it," lead author Dr. David Brooks adds in a news release.
"By switching on an HIV-positive person's dormant virus, we hope to enable the immune system to recognize and eradicate HIV-infected cells before they spread more virus," Brooks says.
The scientists bred mice without immune systems and implanted the mice with human thymus tissue, which was then infected with HIV. In response, the mice produced human T-cells infected with hidden HIV.
Next, the scientists stimulated the T-cells to prompt the cells to reveal the hidden HIV virus. The scientists then used an anti-HIV antibody genetically fused with a bacterial toxin to target and kill only the T-cells infected with HIV.
"The immunotoxin functions like a smart bomb -- the antibody is the missile guidance system and the toxin is the explosive. When the T-cell switches on and starts expressing virus, the antibody binds to the surface of the T-cell, forcing the toxin into the cell and killing it. This prevents the cell from making more virus," Zack says.
In the mouse model, this two-step approach eliminated nearly 80 percent of the T-cells infected with hidden HIV.
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