They discover characteristics of the AIDS virus compatible with its cure

Scientists have studied people with HIV (AIDS virus) whose body is capable of controlling the virus without needing to take antiretroviral treatment.

The Institute of Biomedicine of Seville (IBiS), a joint center of the Higher Council for Scientific Research (CSIC), the Government of Andalusia and the University of Seville, in Spain, has carried out a study that opens new avenues for the cure of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection. In collaboration with the RIMGH (Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University, in the United States, an exceptional group of people with HIV whose body is capable of controlling the virus has been investigated. , that is, its presence is not detected in the blood. This occurs without the need to take antiretroviral treatment (ART).

The so-called elite HIV controllers (EC) can be further divided into two subgroups: those who reach a point where they lose control of their viral load and those who, on the contrary, maintain control indefinitely. . Thanks to ultrasensitive virus characterization techniques, which allow studying the viral reservoir or hiding place in which HIV remains latent in the cell's genome, the research team has discovered that those who lose control, despite having a small amount of Whole or complete viruses have them integrated into areas of the cell's genome accessible to the cellular machinery. “This can lead to the production of new viruses that could be detected in blood,” says Ezequiel Ruiz-Mateos, principal investigator of this study and researcher responsible for the IBiS Immunovirology Group.

However, in those who maintain control of the virus indefinitely, significantly lower levels of complete viruses were detected. In the majority of these subjects, 70%, no complete viruses were detected in the cells analyzed, which means that they did not have a virus with infective capacity. “We have seen that these persistent controllers had complete viruses integrated into areas of the cell's genome called gene deserts, areas of deep latency in which these viruses could never produce new infective viruses,” explains Carmen Gasca-Capote, also a researcher in the Immunovirology Group. from IBiS and first author of the study.

The new findings suggest that some of the persistent drivers could be cured of HIV, since complete viruses are not found or if they are detected they are at very low levels and have no ability to replicate.

A human T cell (shown in blue) being attacked by AIDS-causing viruses (shown in yellow). (Image: US National Cancer Institute)

“This research opens the door to studying in greater detail the mechanisms responsible for cornering the virus in this dead end. The objective is to find targets on which to develop immunotherapies to ensure that the vast majority of people with HIV manage to control the virus as persistent controllers do and, therefore, reach a cure for the infection,” says Ruiz-Mateos.

The study is titled “The HIV-1 reservoir landscape in persistent elite controllers and transient elite controllers.” And it has been published in the academic journal The Journal of Clinical Investigation. (Source: IBiS / CSIC)