The Rockefeller University news release<\/p>\n
There is no cure for HIV. While scientists have made considerable progress in controlling the infection, patients still must take daily antiretroviral medication for the rest of their lives. Results from a clinical trial led by Rockefeller, Imperial College London, and the University of Oxford (RIO)<\/a> have offered a new strategy, suggesting that just one or two doses of broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) can suppress the virus long-term, keeping it at undetectable levels for months and even years.<\/p>\n Now data from the RIO trial reveals how the bNAbs used kept the virus in check, with lessons that may inform HIV therapy. In a paper published in\u00a0Nature Medicine<\/a>, researchers found that participants who already had their own neutralizing antibodies against HIV were better able to control the virus, suggesting that a patient\u2019s natural immune response can work alongside bNAbs. The bNAbs also appear to have accelerated the decline of the intact viral reservoir, the pool of dormant HIV that can reignite infection when treatment stops.<\/p>\n \u201cThe antibodies appear to be teaching the immune system to control HIV,\u201d says Michel C. Nussenzweig<\/a>, head of the Laboratory of Molecular Immunology<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s almost as if the participants\u2019 own immune activity acts as a second component to the antibodies. Together, the bNAbs and the natural immune response seem to work together to corner the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n Read the full news release here<\/a>.Further reading:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n