Treatment targets HIV's last hiding place
UK scientists may have found a way to destroy HIV's last refuge . A study by Oxford University has confirmed that a treatment developed by a British company can remove the virus in its chosen hiding place, in laboratory conditions, offering hope of a viable treatment. Professor Lucy Dorrell and her team at the University of Oxford worked with Immunocore Ltd -- a UK biotechnology company based in Oxfordshire -- to investigate the potency of novel engineered immune-mobilising T cell receptors-based drugs ('ImmTAVs'), designed to clear HIV-infected cells. Completely curing HIV is difficult. HIV targets CD4+ T-cells, part of the immune system. If untreated, active HIV destroys these cells, leading to AIDS. But the virus can also enter some of the cells and remain dormant, so-called 'latent infection'. If the dormant HIV is reactivated, the process of active infection begins again. While Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ART) stops the virus spreading, it is not able to ...