Study HIV diminished by antibody therapy

For the first time, researchers are successfully testing an immunotherapy against HIV

09/04/2015

Researchers from the US and Germany may have discovered a new hope in the fight against HIV and AIDS. As the scientists currently in the trade magazine „Nature“ report that it has been possible for the first time to successfully test an immunotherapy on humans. Accordingly, had by the antibody „3BNC117“ the viral load in infected people can be significantly reduced. As a result, immunotherapy can become a new component in the prevention, treatment and cure of HIV infection.

A team of US and German researchers has successfully tested human immunotherapy for HIV for the first time. Like the researchers around Marina Caskey of the Rockfeller University in New York in the journal “Nature” report, the amount of HIV viruses in the blood of the infected subjects could already be significantly reduced by the single injection of a broadly neutralizing antibody. The researchers had a total of 29 people in the United States and Germany a dose of the HIV antibody for their study „3BNC117“ and then observed for 56 days. Seventeen of the participants had HIV, with 15 of them taking no antiretroviral (ARV) drugs to treat the disease at the time of the study. 3BNC117 belongs to a new generation of broadly neutralizing antibodies that are effective against a broad range of HIV strains, according to a statement from Rockefeller University. „What is special about these antibodies is that they are active and very potent against more than 80 percent of HIV strains, "says Marina Caskey, co-lead author of the study.

Viral load decreases significantly at a dose of 30 milligrams per kilogram of body weight
Eight infected people received the highest dose of 30 milligrams per kilogram of body weight, which caused the greatest effect and significantly reduced viral load within a week. Also in the following 28 days, the reduced amount remained constant in a part of the subjects, also had not shown any serious side effects in any of the participants in the eight-week observation period. „We conclude that 3BNC117 as a single agent is safe and effective in reducing HIV-1 viral load and that immunotherapy should be explored as a new modality for HIV-1 prevention, therapy and cure“, so the scientists in „Nature“.

Active substance alone is insufficient against the mutable virus
The results of the researchers could represent a new great hope in the fight against HIV and AIDS. Because unlike in the treatment of certain cancers, initial tests of monoclonal antibodies against HIV have so far shown no success. Nevertheless, a successful monotherapy with the drug according to the scientists unlikely, as the HIV virus is extremely versatile and rapidly mutate in the human body, according to the lead author of the study Michel Nussenzweig of Rockefeller University in New York. Instead, combinations of antibodies would be available for therapy. To this end, the researchers had around nut branch produced a second HIV antibody and would now hope to be able to test this both individually and in combination with 3BNC117 later this year. (No)