Lung cancer drug discovered that can kill HIV cells

Doctors at Pitie-Salpetriere Hospital AP-HP in Paris (France) have discovered the first evidence that a drug used to treat lung, kidney and skin cancer can kill HIV-infected cells in AIDS patients.

In the study, a 51-year-old male patient who had been diagnosed with HIV in 1995 and lung cancer in May 2015 was given the drug nivolumab, sold by Bristol-Myers Squibb as Opdivo.

A drug used to treat lung, kidney and skin cancers can kill cells infected with the HIV virus.

The results showed a “dramatic and sustained reduction” in HIV reservoirs without the use of standard treatment. The patient received 31 doses of nivolumab every two weeks since December 2016. After the first injection, the HIV level increased continuously until day 45, then decreased. Doctors explained that the activity of the body’s immune system had increased. By day 120, the treatment results showed a sharp reduction in HIV reservoirs.

The case was reported in the Annals of Oncology, where doctors said they had performed a similar study on another patient who took Opdivo but had no effect on HIV.

Dr Jean-Philippe Spano, professor and head of the department of oncology medicine at the hospital, said "we still need to be very cautious, because this is only a single case" but added that this is the first case showing a significant reduction in the HIV reservoir. For his part, infectious disease expert Andrew Freedman of Cardiff University (UK), said the above discovery was "very encouraging", but still needed to be cautious.

For many years, scientists have been trying to find ways to eliminate HIV reservoirs in the hope of completely eliminating the virus and curing AIDS patients. The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said that global HIV treatment has made remarkable progress over the past 15 years, recording 57% of infected cases being treated.

The challenge now is to get the 16 million untreated patients, including some 919,000 children, access to treatment as soon as possible.

According to VNA