Scientists create sustained remission of HIV virus without drugs

Scientists might have discovered a way to liberate patients with HIV from having to take powerful drugs every day for the rest of their lives to keep the virus in check.

Researchers found in a clinical trial with monkeys that by adding an antibody developed in the lab to the HIV treatment, the animals were able to enter a state of sustained remission, according a report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.

All eight monkeys that tested the regimen were able to keep the virus at low or undetectable levels for at least nine months after the treatment ended and in some, the remission was sustained for nearly two years.

Researchers had been attempting to device the approach for years.

The antiretroviral drugs used to suppress HIV in conventional treatment are effective, but they have side-effects such as cardiovascular disease, high cholesterol, insulin resistance and damage to bones and kidneys with longer use.

Scientists had shown that achieving a sustained control of SIV infection in macaques - the simian equivalent of an HIV infection in humans was possible.

With the antibody given during and after treatment with ART, the infected animals' immune system appeared to have been restored. The re-emergence of the virus was also blocked once the ART was stopped.

ART has emerged as among the most important advances in the fight against HIV.

The treatment, which is a combination of antiretroviral drugs, acts to suppress the HIV virus and thus halt the progression of the disease.

ART has been able to achieve  dramatic success reducing the number of AIDS-related deaths and it is believed that, ART had saved 7.8 million lives over the last 15 years.

However, ART does not 'cure', as the virus persists in the body, in a latent form, and if discontinued, the virus rebounds.