Antibody Treatment Could Play Role in Slowing Down HIV
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shironosov/iStock/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Researchers believe that a form of antibody therapy could be an effective way to slow down the HIV virus.
According to a study published in the journal Nature, the use of antibodies in a technique called passive immunization, could aid in the treatment of HIV. To do so, researchers infuse antibodies into a person’s blood.
Anthony Fauci, director of the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, admitted the study was an early one, but said it has “some impressive results.”
The antibodies that researchers tested are typically produced later on during a person’s infection with HIV. By the time the more potent versions of the antibodies are produced, the virus has typically adapted. However, researchers say, but taking the stronger antibodies and giving them to patients earlier in the infection process, the amount of the virus in the patients blood could be decreased by eight to 250 times.
“The goal is a once-a-year shot for prevention and a combination approach for cure,” said the study’s lead author Michel Nussenzweig, an infectious disease physician and immunologist at Rockefeller University in New York.
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