‘Shock and kill’ treatment can destroy HIV

FRESH hope of a potential HIV cure is on the cards as researchers say the new “shock and kill” treatment has the ability to destroy even “invisible” levels of the virus.

The virus currently hides at “undetectable” levels making it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to cure the patient.

Researchers at the University of Illinois in the US believe there might be good news for patients, as their new-found research is a step in the right direction to killing the virus completely.

The research, led by Professor Jie Liang, claims the gene Tat could expose the HIV out of hiding, consequently revealing the virus to the immune system.

This could open doors for antiretroviral drugs to fight the fatal virus by forcing it out into the open, in a method known as “shock and kill”.

Researchers at the university used a computer model to study the Tat gene under different conditions.

Professor Liang said: “By targeting the Tat gene circuit with drugs or small molecules to activate it, we would be able to cause latency-infected cells to start producing more viruses, and then they can be destroyed by the immune system.

“And our results suggest new ways of targeting latent cells that may lead to the eradication of the HIV virus from a host.”

Over the past 40 years, researchers have been trying to crack the code of the cure for HIV.

Research progress has allowed more patients with the virus to have unprotected sex without fear of passing it on.