New breakthrough in the search for a way to neutralize the HIV virus

Scientists attending the International AIDS Conference in Vancouver, Canada, continued to present many new inventions, bringing hope to the search for an effective drug to prevent the disease of the century, HIV/AIDS.

An HIV-infected patient in Africa. (Photo: AFP)

At this conference, scientists reported progress in gene therapy and antibody therapy to neutralize HIV. These are studies to find answers to the question of how some people infected with HIV can control the amount of HIV virus after stopping treatment, or the hypothesis of a vaccine that can destroy HIV virus in the patient's body.

Researcher Christopher Peterson of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington state, has announced a new discovery in the search for a method to prevent the HIV virus, which is to introduce modified stem cells into the body with experimental subjects being monkeys.

According to Mr. Peterson, this research has shown quite positive results when the "modified" cells have prevented the HIV virus from entering the immune system. Mr. Peterson said that with enough protective cells, the HIV virus cannot spread. This brings the prospect of a feasible treatment method.

Another study, led by John Mascola of the US National Institutes of Health, focused on the activity of HIV-1 monoclonal antibodies in the bodies of eight HIV patients. The results showed that after three months of receiving a dose of antibodies, the virus in the serum of six of the eight patients tended to decrease, from 10 to 50 times.

The other two people's bodies were unable to absorb HIV-1 antibodies because a type of HIV virus in their bodies resisted HIV-1. Mr. Mascola said there could be many ways to use antibodies in treating HIV patients, including destroying virus reservoirs in the patient's cells.

Although the new discoveries have not yet provided a feasible treatment method, experts say this is a solid foundation for moving towards other larger-scale research projects, bringing more prospects in treating and preventing the deadly disease HIV/AIDS./.

According to Vietnam+