Original title: arsenic can inhibit HIV? Guangzhou Institute of biology will recruit human volunteers
According to the latest news from Guangzhou Institute of biomedicine and health, Chinese Academy of Sciences, researchers from Guangzhou Eighth People's Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Sun Yat sen University and King's College London found that monkeys with chronic SIV infection can effectively inhibit the viral load after receiving arsenic trioxide (As2O3, the main component of arsenic) combined with art treatment. The time of virus rebound in AIDS macaques was significantly delayed after drug withdrawal, even some macaques did not appear virus rebound for a long time after drug withdrawal. It is reported that the research team will carry out the exploration of new clinical treatment schemes and recruit volunteers with HIV infection in the near future.
Latent infection of HIV reservoir is still unable to cure the key factor of HIV infection. Researchers believe that it may be an effective strategy to cure HIV infection by activating the latent virus storehouse first, and then killing the activated virus by drugs or immune system. Therefore, it is a hot spot in the field of AIDS treatment to find a method to specifically activate the virus storehouse and kill it. Through a series of in vitro cell experiments, the researchers found that arsenic trioxide can specifically activate and interfere with the latent virus reservoir, and will not cause excessive immune inflammation. Most importantly, the researchers found that chronic SIV infected macaques can effectively inhibit the viral load after receiving arsenic trioxide combined with art treatment. The time of virus rebound in AIDS macaques was significantly delayed after drug withdrawal, even some macaques did not appear virus rebound for a long time after drug withdrawal. In addition, it was found that the therapy could effectively reduce the number of virus reservoirs in infected macaques and enhance the virus specific cellular immune response.
It is worth mentioning that arsenic or arsenic containing preparations are used in traditional Chinese medicine for anti infection and parasitic diseases. In modern medicine, arsenic trioxide for injection has been approved by FDA in China and the United States for the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) and other cancers with good efficacy and safety. The results suggest that combined use of arsenic trioxide on the basis of existing art chemotherapy in HIV infected patients may achieve long-term viral control effect. The research team will explore new clinical treatment options and recruit HIV infected volunteers in the near future.
This study may improve the effect of existing anti AIDS treatment, reduce the use of antiviral drugs and long-term side effects of medication, and reduce the economic burden. AIDS is a serious threat to global public health. At present, about 36.9 million people in the world have been infected with HIV, and about 1.8 million people have been infected every year. The existing antiviral drug therapy (Art) can effectively control but can not eradicate the virus in the body, which brings a heavy burden to patients. Therefore, it is urgent to develop a new method that can effectively and even completely control the virus (functional cure) for a long time.