HIV Breakthrough: Patients Control Virus Without Treatment
- And even though advances in treatment have meant that infection is no longer a death sentence, researchers have not found a cure: people living with HIV must take...
- But in 2025, an advance was announced that suggests a functional cure for HIV -a way to keep HIV under control long-term without constant treatment- could be possible....
- In one of the trials -the FRESH, led by virologist Thumbi Ndung'u, from the University of kwazulu-Natal and the African Health Research Institute of South Africa- four of...
Around 40 million people live with HIV worldwide. And even though advances in treatment have meant that infection is no longer a death sentence, researchers have not found a cure: people living with HIV must take a combination of antiretroviral drugs for the rest of their lives.
But in 2025, an advance was announced that suggests a functional cure for HIV -a way to keep HIV under control long-term without constant treatment- could be possible. In two autonomous trials using infusions of genetically modified antibodies, some participants remained healthy without antiretrovirals.
In one of the trials -the FRESH, led by virologist Thumbi Ndung’u, from the University of kwazulu-Natal and the African Health Research Institute of South Africa- four of the 20 participants maintained undetectable levels of HIV for an average of 1.5 years without taking antiretrovirals.
In the other, the RIO, conducted in the United Kingdom and Denmark
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Una cura funcional sería la mejor segunda opción.Y ahí es donde un fenómeno poco común ofrece esperanza: algunas personas con VIH de larga duración acaban produciendo anticuerpos que pueden neutralizar el virus,aunque demasiado tarde para eliminarlo por completo. Estos potentes anticuerpos se dirigen a partes críticas y poco cambiantes de las proteínas del VIH en la membrana viral externa; el virus usa estas proteínas para infectar las células. Los anticuerpos, capaces de reconocer una amplia gama de cepas del virus, se denominan ampliamente neutralizantes.
