HIV cure? American scientists advance in study that creates medicine that can cure AIDS

Scientists at the University of Michigan, in the United States, have made progress in a study that develops a substance capable of destroying the AIDS virus. More details of the research were published in Journal of Medical ChemistryIn this month.

According to Cristiano Galvão infectious disease specialist at Vila da Serra hospital, currently, medication for HIV is basically to prevent the replication of the virus, these are highly effective medications released by the Unified Health System (SUS). ‘Today we have treatment regimens with one to two tablets per day, which will keep the virus from practically replicating, allowing the person to lead a normal lifestyle. So, there is this problem, which is constant use of medication for a person to have a normal life,’ he explains.

According to the infectious disease specialist, there is a protein called Nef, produced by the HIV virus, its function is to camouflage the virus. Therefore, Nef deceives the immune system, the defense cells do not understand that they are infected, so it is impossible for the defense cells to act and eliminate the virus. Today, there is no medication that can eliminate this protein, Nef.

American researchers managed to develop bacteria that produce a substance with the potential to destroy a protein that protects the HIV virus from the human body’s defense system. ‘It was recently discovered that some organisms, cyanobacteria, which can be found in water or even in soil, produce a substance very similar to Nef, which could work as a medication to neutralize the HIV virus protein. The expectation is that it will be possible to isolate and produce cyanobacteria in large quantities and develop a medicine that, theoretically, could function as a weapon to combat the proteins that HIV produces and possibly be one of the definitive cure mechanisms for AIDS’, details.

Regarding the study time to develop the medication, the doctor says it could take years. ‘The safety of the medication will be assessed, so this time is very long, we have no perspective, but these are long periods, if everything goes well and there are no serious side effects. In the future, in the medium and long term, it could mean a cure for HIV. The person could acquire the disease and, with this type of medication, if developed, they could be definitively free from the virus. I repeat again, this could take years’, reinforces the infectious disease specialist at Vila da Serra hospital, Cristiano Galvão.

HIV

AIDS is the disease caused by infection with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). This virus attacks the immune system, which is responsible for defending the body from diseases. The most affected cells are CD4+ T lymphocytes. The virus is capable of altering the DNA of that cell and making copies of itself. After multiplying, it breaks the lymphocytes in search of others to continue the infection.

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