Health: HIV flushed out by cancer drug

HIV can be flushed out of its hiding places in the body
using a cancer drug, researchers show.
The cornerstone of treatment, anti-retroviral therapy, kills
the virus in the bloodstream but leaves "HIV reservoirs"
untouched.
The study, published in PLoS Pathogens, showed the drug
was "highly potent" at reactivating hidden HIV.
Experts said the findings were interesting, but it was
important to know if the drug was safe in patients.
The power of the HIV reservoir was shown with the case of
the Mississippi baby .
She was given antiretroviral drugs at birth. Despite
appearing to be free of HIV for nearly two years after
stopping treatment, she was found to be harbouring the
virus.
'Kick and kill'
A strategy known as "kick and kill" is thought to be key to
curing HIV - the kick would wake up the dormant HIV
allowing the drugs to kill it.
The team at the UC Davis School of Medicine investigated
PEP005 - one of the ingredients in a treatment to prevent
cancer in sun-damaged skin.
They tested the drug in cells grown in the laboratory and in
parts of the immune system taken from 13 people with HIV.
The report said "PEP005 is highly potent in reactivating
latent HIV" and that the chemical represents "a new group of
lead compounds for combating HIV".
One of the researchers, Dr Satya Dandekar, said: "We are
excited to have identified an outstanding candidate for HIV
reactivation and eradication that is already approved and is
being used in patients.
"This molecule has great potential to advance into
translational and clinical studies."
However, the drug has still not been tested in people who
are HIV-positive.
Prof Sharon Lewin, from the University of Melbourne, said
the results were "interesting" and marked an "important
advance in finding new compounds that can activate latent
HIV".
She told the BBC: "This study adds another family of drugs
to test to potentially eliminate long-lived forms of HIV
although much more work needs to be done to see if this
works in patients.
"Although PEP005 is part of an FDA approved drug, it will
first take some time to work out if it is safe to use in the
setting of HIV."

Source: BBC NEWS